Squandered Opportunity
by bonbonpich
Summary: RikuSora. Stolen from his life, Sora thought being auctioned in the black market was the worst thing that could happen to him. But when Riku bought him, Sora was read between the lines of what had gone wrong and what was starting to go right. Side AxeRox
1. Ch 1 Stolen Lives

**Title: Squandered Opportunity **

**Summary:** Stolen from his life and parted from his twin brother, Sora thought being auctioned in the black market was the worst thing that could have happened to him. But when Riku was the one who bought him, Sora was read between the lines of what was messed up and everything was all right.

Meanwhile, Roxas fell into the organization's hands. Aided by Axel, he thrived his way to get his brother back while being forced to hold the duty of Number XIII.

**Main:** RikuxSora, **Side:** AxelxRoxas.

**Special Thanks** to **Carefreecat** for beta-reading!

**Disclaimers:** KH belongs to SquareEnix and Disney. Song: Music for a Nurse belongs to Oceansize.

**Note:** I actually got the idea from the anime _No Money (Okane ga nai). _The similarity is only at the beginning, but the entire plot will be different. Riku is not a pervert and Sora is not a girl.

**Chapter 1 Stolen Lives**

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Sora lived a blissful life with his twin brother, Roxas, at Destiny Island. He had always been a happy boy. Despite the death of their parents in their younger years, they still managed to grow out of tears and fears. As long as they had each other's back, they knew they could go through everything and anything the world decided to throw at them.

Things were going just fine for them until the day they were stolen from their home island.

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He felt the numbness course through out his entire body even before he came to full consciousness. Far off noises that were incoherent to him filled his ears, he could barely make out that someone was speaking through a microphone and many others were conversing. Then his ears caught the sound of rattling chains. He had no idea where the chains were until he felt himself being jerked forward by the throat. It was only then that he realized those chains were bound to his throat.

Then he felt himself being lifted from whatever ground he was on and he was being carried in some general direction. Voices were coming in every direction. He tried to see, but he was blindfolded; he tried to move, but he couldn't feel his limbs anymore.

Fear finally crept up; he knew something was very wrong. He tried to sort through his memory and finally it came in slow waves to him, lapping sluggishly at his mind.

He was walking home from school with his older twin brother in the late evening. Contrary to every day's usualness, some cars suddenly drove in, out of nowhere. A group of four men climbed out of the vehicle. When the men approached them, his twin had taken the precautious step and tried to fend them off. He followed his brother's lead and they had managed in bringing two of the four men down, but a gun was issued from another man. Then they could do nothing.

He had seen his twin being knocked unconscious by the two men before everything around him turned dark.

Sora gasped as another yank to his throat had him stumbling onto his knees, but he was picked up. The impact had left him in a clearer state of mind. It was not long before Sora felt himself being lowered to the floor and the loud chattering voices filled his ears, followed by a loud voice over a microphone.

"And for our last product, a 16 year old boy, a student from a far away land. He has the most captivating blue eyes, smooth skin, small frame yet boyish features. A truly beautiful gift from Destiny Island." As the speaking went on, Sora felt a rough hand circling under his chin, forcing him to tilt his head upward. Then the blindfold was removed, obliging him to crack his eyes open. The sudden bright light blinded his eyes, he shut them instinctively.

"Open your eyes, kid," a nondescript voice commanded.

Sora felt like he shouldn't obey it, whoever it was, he knew that the intentions were far from good. But he needed to know what exactly was happening to him, and there was only one way to figure that out. He slowly gathered his courage and he forced his eyes open again and let them adjust to the light.

Sora took in the sight before him. Thousand of people in their seats were starring flaming holes into his shivering body. Normally, Sora never fazed under an audience's stares, but he felt like this _kind _of audience was killing him now. And the air around him was different from what he'd been breathing his entire life, it was too thick, too heavy, too…hostile.

This wasn't Destiny Island, nor was it Twilight Town, the only two places he'd ever been living all his life.

Sora shifted his eyes from the audience to search his surroundings. He was on a stage, with one announcer and two men that seemed to be the guys who had bound him with the chains. His neck was cuffed and attached to those chains, which one man was holding the end tightly in his hands.

Everything was completely different, saved for his school uniform that was still the same.

And his twin brother was missing.

Sora's whirlwind thoughts were cut short when the bidding resumed.

"In fact, this product was brought along with his elder twin. Due to some circumstances, the elder one was sold off. But I guarantee you that they both are still a piece of art without each other."

Sora kicked himself mentally at that. In spite of all the confusion, he managed to string the events together. _'Roxas, sold, auction…me? A product?'_ In Destiny Island, crime rate was very low, but Sora had learned in school that some other worlds usually had high crime rates. Little did he know about black market and its details, but he_ did_ know what they were.

Panic rose up inside him, forcing Sora to go through with his weak attempts of breaking free. He actually almost made it, if not for the two huge guys holding him down. His struggles seemed to catch the room's attention and soon the audience began to whisper with one another. And then he heard the auctioneer (as he now knew) say something to the man who was now holding him.

"Let go of him."

Sora didn't understand, nor did he care. Once he was free from the man, he attempted to get on his feet. But he fell. Then with his hands shaking, he tried to support himself and get up. He tried to move, only to fail again. So he tried to scrape the cuff off of his neck instead of trying to get up a third time. On the top of all that, his head still spun like hell.

He heard the snickers emitting from all over the audience, but he ignored them. If he was back home, he would have found the sound of laughter pleasant and inviting to his ears. He liked being able to be the source of laughter, but not here, not now that he knew the laughter that attacked his ears were different from back home. The one caused Sora to realize just how scared, humiliated, and angry he truly was.

The auctioneer must have known that he couldn't get anywhere in such a state, and that was the very reason he was let free, on the stage, to entertain these twisted-mind audiences. How twisted they were, Sora yet had no idea, nor did he want to think about what kind of product they were presenting him to be. To his horror struck with growing intensity, his unwanted question was answered.

"As you can see, he's just woken up and is new to all of this. My, my, see how stubborn and audacious he is. For those of you who preferred a lesser obedient type, this should be the very toy for you. In this area, I trust you can see what a great toy he could become." The auctioneer said and Sora could hear a tad bit of mocking in his voice.

Sora swore if he wasn't in such condition, he would have punched the guy right in the face, but the best he could do was to manage a weak glare.

"And we shall begin the bidding! Starting from 1,000,000 munny!"

In such short moment, the excitement of bidding rose higher and higher in the hall. The loud noises of their greed made Sora want to gag. Even though he could have joked with himself that he was worth that much, he still couldn't imagine what they would do to him after the bidding was over. He only knew it couldn't be good or anything near to being okay. He'd never felt this sick in his life. No illness could have made him feel the way he was feeling now. It sent his mind reeling.

Here he was, in a place far from home which God knows where, and he was about to be sold to some twisted person with a sick mind.

'_Giving up already? C'mon, Sora, I thought you were stronger than that.'_

That line again. The very one that always broke his fall when he was about to. Someone had said those words to him, but he now couldn't recall who that person had been.

'_Roxas, I have to find Roxas!'_ with only one thought clear in mind, Sora breathed in deep and began and pulled himself together. Glancing once at the auctioneer and the other two men who were momentarily busy with the bidding, Sora gathered every bit of his strength that he had left. Then he batted the tail of the chain from the man and he dashed off with as much speed he could, attempting to reach the side door of the stage before someone could stop him.

The guys were already after him. Sora looked behind him to the two men and doubted he was going to make it. He could barely stand earlier, let alone run. Still, that didn't mean he would quit, he would die trying. When his eyes caught sight of the others behind him, his mind descended into negative presumptions. He would be yanked back, beaten up until he couldn't move a finger, and be sold to whatever he was for.

His last wish was only to find Roxas and go home with his brother.

What Sora never anticipated was that he would run right into someone's waiting arms. When he jerked his head to his captive, he saw a boy not much older than himself. In his right mind, he would have thought about the oddity of a young boy with oceanic green eyes, silver-hair, and ethereal features which resembled anything but a twisted-minded person unlike the rest of the audience. For some reason the current situation made him feel like everyone there was going to hurt him, badly. He needed to escape.

Sora struggled vainly in the silver-haired boy's tight grip. Unfortunately, he was much smaller that only one arm holding his waist was enough to keep him there, but Sora blamed it all on the improper of his body functioning.

Out of frustration with the runaway property and misunderstanding that the silver-haired boy had only appeared to assist them in retrieving the product, one of the guy gave a small yank to Sora's chain by the end of its tail, causing the brunet's head to jerk back slightly. Between a yelp, Sora missed the dangerous glint in oceanic eyes as the owner of them grabbed the middle of the chain and yanked it towards himself forcefully so the man holding the tail of it was pulled along. The man didn't make it all the way to them though. The silver-haired boy lifted one foot and literally separated the man from the chain by kicking him in the gut. Then the boy took the end of the chain in his hand and held Sora who was struggling fruitlessly in his arm.

"Back off, he's mine," the boy hissed with a glare.

Before the bruised man could draw a gun, the boy kicked the bag that he'd dropped earlier (when grabbing the chains that bound Sora) in the middle of the stage where the auctioneer was watching them. The bag fell open in front of all the bidders' eyes, and they gawked at it.

"30,000,000 munny, in cash," the boy revealed the amount, which was by far higher than the amount that the bidders were trying to top each other.

The auctioneer was the first one to pull himself away from the gawk worthy amount and resumed his position. "Well…would anybody give more than 30,000,000?" When the silence lasted for a few moments, the auctioneer finally announced, "30,000,000 it is, to number 960!"

Sora deadpanned.

"Oh, no, no, no. No! What the heck is going on! This must be a bad dream. Roxas! Come wake me up!" Sora wailed frantically. He couldn't bring himself to believe what was happening to him. It seemed unreal, even his parent's death seemed more real than this. This was not happening, it couldn't be.

"Hey, it'll be okay. Relax." the silver-haired boy cooed softly into Sora's ears.

Unfortunately, Sora rejected it, and he struggled on. He'd missed the sound of comfort. In his right mind the words would have sounded reassuring. And those eyes watching him tenderly would have put him at ease if he'd looked at them long enough. Moreover, if he actually remembered it, he would have recognized that the voice was the same as the line that told him not to give up. But he didn't. All he could think about was his brother, and of what was happening to him now.

"No! Roxas!" Sora scraped, pushed, and did everything in vain to break free. All of this was draining every last bit of his energy and before long he barely had any fight left in him. He feared for a moment that his sanity would waver. But before long everything started to fade to grey, darker it went until all that was left was never ending blackness.

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_And a piece of the pictures bitten right out of the middle_  
_I'm alone and thinner I feel_

_Is this a prayer?_

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Here it goes; this fic is the second thing I couldn't believe that I actually have written it. Before this, I wasn't much for AU. Without canon thingy, I felt that writers are using characters for their own good, now I'm doing it myself. I've drafted this in my head sometimes ago and dumped it, then retrieved it later and got it written for real. Seems like I can't reject the urge after all. Anyway, I don't intend to go on without canon, I'll see what I can do with this plot line. Meanwhile, I'm open for comments, bad or good or so so, let me know!


	2. Ch 2 Worst Time

I'm really grateful for the reviews. Thank you!

Do I have to mention the warning that there's…eh…rape? Well, don't worry, it's non-graphic!

Revised 24/09/11

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**Chapter II Worst Time**

Riku couldn't be happier; in addition, he hadn't ever been more relieved than this. It was pure coincidence when a day earlier, he had visited the company his father worked, something he rarely did. The Shinra Corporation supplied electrical power, protection and some stability to the world. Its company had a dark rumor of ripping the life out of the planet elsewhere and immoral human experiments. They were somewhere in the pages of history. But here, the president announced his redemption to this rundown world.

From the web of his people, Riku knew and believed that the Shinra's desire to undo the chaos was real, but the letter he had in his hands did raise a lot of questions. But they could wait.

What he had cared most at the moment, was a picture of a certain Destiny Island's boy. He happened to come across it in the hidden room, which he had sneaked his way into. It was sent to the company, along with some fact sheets and the invitation card to the bidding. One glance at the picture of a brunet with blue eyes made Riku realize immediately that it was his long lost childhood friend. No questions asked.

His breathe caught in his throat at the fact that his Sora was about to be sold in the black market. It felt like a dark joke to him, somehow he pulled his thoughts together. He knew with every inch of his being that he couldn't let that happen. Not to Sora…

Nevertheless, he knew he couldn't do it alone. After the rise of the Organization, which was an underground group of people who acted against the black market bidding, it never was easy to get into the bidding even how rich you were. He needed the right documents, right people, and right information to get into the bidding that didn't rightfully belong to him.

Given that his father who was associated with Shinra hadn't been on a good terms with him, taking those papers to him for help was his first step to trouble, which gave him hell for the rest of the day.

Shinra had declined that they were ever connected with that kind of association such as Black Market. Just as Riku had doubted, Shinra seemed to create many enemies in the past that now they were coming back to crush the Company's name. So Riku ended up having to contact with Black Market people directly, which of course, him, not being Shinra, wasn't helping. But with the personal help of an unknown Turk, he'd managed to get himself through.

Getting the large amount of munny from his father and running complicated documents to get into the underground bidding cost him a lot more than a normal day. His temper was running short but his efforts were not wasted with the safety of Sora at last.

He remembered eleven years ago where his first meeting with Sora took place. His father had him and his mother moved to Destiny Island. Riku fell into a fight with his father on the first few days they were there. A need to make it anywhere far made him row the boat to the remote island. A storm happened to take place and it took away his boat. Although not really afraid of the dark and the storm, Riku still found that being stuck up alone on the island very disturbing.

Then Sora showed up, and made Riku never regret ending up there.

He exited from his memory lane; Riku studied the sleeping boy who was occupying the bed in his mansion. It all seemed surreal to him. Four years ago, due to a certain circumstance, Riku had thought he'd never see Sora again. He wasn't sure if he'd already gotten over that. But there was no way in hell that he would let Sora fall into someone's dirty hands.

Drawing his hand out, Riku ruffled the brunet's head. He'd missed doing that so much. Then his hand slipped down to the brunet's cheek, with the need to confirm that the boy was real.

"Unn…"

The contact stirred the boy. Withdrawing his hands, Riku waited impatiently as the boy regained his consciousness. It had been a while since Riku had felt his heart beat so hard against his ribcage.

After a series of movement and shifting, the brunet cracked his eyes open at last. "Urgh," was his first word. Riku watched as the smaller boy gradually took in he surrounding and Riku's presence. His blue eyes widened, and Sora shot up. The sudden movement cost him his vision which began to spin, leaving the brunet to cradle his head in his hands with a whimper. Nevertheless, he saw Riku's hand coming closer, resulting in him scrambling away and onto the other side of the huge bed.

"Stay away! Urgh!" Sora hissed through a moan, shutting his eyes tight.

"Don't move so much, they must have drugged you," Riku warned, remaining calm.

Letting his head out of his hands, Sora stared back at Riku unbelievingly. "Drugs?" He regarded Riku for a long minute before he added, "Who are you?

At first thought, Riku doubted Sora had gained back his right mind. Back in the bidding room, he understood it was drugs and shock that must have rendered Sora unable to recognize him. But now, Sora coming out and asking who he was?

"You…don't remember me?"

Blue eyes narrowed in deep thought, Sora searched through his recollection. "You…you were the one that…bought me! Wha-what are you going to do with me?"

Riku's hearts sank as he watched the boy move about in frantic, studying his own situation. He remained silence as Sora gripped the unfamiliarity of the shirt he was wearing, which were Riku's pajamas…they seemed to be too large for Sora.

"Roxas! What about Roxas!" Sora suddenly gasped.

"Who's Roxas?" Riku himself was surprised that his voice sounded stern. He had no idea that it was a wrong tone of voice on his part. His tone provoked Sora, and in turn, the brunet granted him the last thing he wanted: distrusting eyes. He never received such a look from Sora. The Sora he knew always confided in him and had answered everything immediately once the question was asked by him. Now he wouldn't even say who this Roxas person was.

"You don't trust me, do you?" Riku's patience was running short.

Why was Sora reacting this way? The Sora he knew didn't normally go cautious with anyone. Then again, what he'd been through earlier could waver that trusting instinct inside of him. Still, Riku didn't think it would have crushed Sora's nature. Unless he changed that much from when they were kids.

"I brought you from them so you wouldn't fall into those perverts' hands," Riku tried again.

Sora looked far from convinced and he fell into defensive stance. "Weren't you there with them? Why would you want to save me anyway? We don't even know each other!"

That was the biggest mistake Sora made that day.

Not only Riku had only one nerve left that day, but he'd thought at the end of the hellish day, all of these would have come down to a small sanctuary when he finally got Sora in his arms. He was wrong. Sora didn't remember him; Sora had forgotten about him, and to top all of that, he didn't even trust Riku.

Aside from all of those, something vile was running through him, it had been there since he'd come back from the auction. Riku couldn't lay a finger on what it was, where he'd gotten it from, or even when it had happened, but it sure was taking its toll on his restrainability. He had been feeling somewhat…temperamental. So far, he had been fine holding it back, in prospect of Sora with him.

But now that he'd gone through hell to save Sora…this was how he was reward?

And Sora trying to get away from him wasn't helping.

Riku could feel the blood rushing through his head; his emotion was getting the best of him. Riku advanced to where Sora was. The boy attempted to back away but he wasn't fast enough. Riku managed to grab the small wrists and he instantly flattened Sora against the cushion.

"Gah! Let go!" Sora yelled angrily while trying to break free of the silver haired boy's strong grip. His movement collided with Riku's form and that was the second biggest mistake in his life.

Riku bent down towards the struggling boy, their faces dangerously close. "I've bought you. Therefore, you're _mine_."

"Wha-what!" Sora exclaimed, when he saw the other's angered expression hovering above him, he was afraid to the core, but it didn't stop him from speaking of what his mind told him. "You _rotten_! Nobody buys a human being, you're _sick_!" He thrashed, yelling "_Roxas_!"

That did it, Riku snapped.

He pressed harder onto Sora's wrists until the boy yelped and squirmed underneath him. And for the first time in his life, he felt it. Since he turned thirteen Riku had become aware about his feelings for his best friend. He longed to touch the brunet in a different way. Having parted from Sora, he failed to make those feelings go away and now it returned to him in tidal wave.

At this moment, Sora was here, under him. But Sora was calling for somebody else, he couldn't take it.

He leaned in to the trembling boy and brushed his words against Sora's ear. "Now I know what should be done. So you… you'll be officially _mine_."

"Wha-?" Sora gasped.

"You'll learn."

Before Riku knew what he was doing, he had _taken _Sora in that very night.

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Roxas woke up in the white room. His blue eyes scanned the area and it seemed to him that he was in some kind of laboratory, and on the account of that, only God knows where. A terrible headache pounded in his skull as he slid himself off of what he had been lying on. He passed it a glance, and noticed it was an operating table.

He didn't want to imagine what could have possibly been done to him if he had been on that table as long as he suspected. To his relief, he was still in his school uniform, and the room was completely clean, free of any operating devices or tools, it had to mean that he hadn't been cut open or whatnot. He decided not to venture into the thought of those people that could remove those devices after they were done. Somehow, he knew the pain that lingered in his head wasn't a good sign.

He recalled what had happened. After passing out between their journey home, Roxas remembered waking up again in a very dark place. He saw someone taking Sora away, and he himself was held back. He remembered asking, and the answer he got was '_We don't have time for a Q & A. You're coming with me, conscious or not. Then you'll hear the story.' _Then everything turned black again. Roxas assumed that he had been separated from his brother. Still, he wanted to make sure.

"Sora?"

To his anticipation, no Sora answered him. Instead, the only door of the room was thrown open, and a man in a weird, complex outfit stepped in. His face covered in red bandages, save for his right orange eye and his mouth. Two intersecting belts secured around his head. He was in a long black coat that reached his shoes and a red cape. Whatever the way of dressing this was, it resembled something mean and dark. Somehow, Roxas managed to fight and stand his ground, ignoring the dizziness that lingered like a cloud in his head.

"Who are you?" Demanded the boy as he glanced around himself once more. "And what's this place? What have you done to me?" Lastly, he settled his eyes squarely to the man. "Most importantly, where's Sora? Where's my brother?"

"You should be well aware of your situation, boy. You have no place to demand," the man said in neutral air, but thick with something dark.

"Where's Sora!" Roxas repeated, he didn't like the tone of the odd man's voice.

The man smiled pleasantly and Roxas realized that his anger could lead him to fall victim to this sinister smiling man. Still, he couldn't help it; he always had a knack for being quick to anger. And this time, Sora wasn't here to hold him back.

"You have a serious control impulsive problem. However, with exactly that, you also hold the perfect potential…" the man trailed off.

"Oh! Shut it!" Roxas cut in. Feeling this man wasn't helping anyway, he charged right in. But before he could do anything, another figure appeared from the door, pushed his way to the man's spot while the other sidestepped away. The new comer easily kicked Roxas off his feet, causing the boy to tumble painfully on the hard ground below.

"Easy there, kid," the assaulter said.

When Roxas whipped his head up, the black cloaked figure was blocking off his escape, the door. His face was partially obscured by the shadow of his hood, but Roxas could see the playful smile tugging at the unknown person's face. Yet…he could remember that frisky voice…

"You…you're that guy that took me from Sora!" Roxas pointed an accusing finger up at the man.

The hooded man motioned his hand to the man with bandaged-faced and said with an excited tone, "Wow, this kid's fast. You really picked the right one!"

Ignoring what they were talking about, Roxas questioned again, "Where's Sora!"

"I could tell you about Sora, on one condition," the bandaged-face man started.

Roxas jerked his head back to the man while he righted himself and tried to regain his composure. Another cautious glance to the hooded figure made him admit that there was no way out of this unless he played along. He ventured, "And that is?"

The cloaked man threw a clothing object that he'd been holding at Roxas's feet. The clothes fell off, revealing a twin sword.

"From my information, you're the head of school's Kendo club, champion of Struggle Battle. You're most familiar with twin swords, correct?" The bandaged-head man noted.

"What the…?" Roxas's breath caught in his throat. Sure, those points were correct; he might have even added that Sora and he sparred all the time. But all of them had been wooden swords for crying out loud. What was he supposed to do with real swords anyway?

His answer was postponed when the bandaged-face man suddenly turned and left the room. Roxas attempted to stop him, but an outstretched hand of the cloaked man indicated him that doing such would be a wrong move on his part. The cloaked man tipped his two fingers up in a playful manner, "Good Luck, kid." With that, he turned to leave as well.

By the time Roxas rushed to the door, it was closed. He pounded a few frustrated bangs and spun back. Trusting his voice would reach whoever was watching him, he yelled, "You didn't tell me where Sora is! Damn it!"

"I was going to," a voice came from a loud speaker fixed on the high wall in the middle of the room. The voice of the bandaged-face man.

Out of nowhere, a noise that sounded electronic stirred in the hall, making Roxas search with his eyes around for the source. His eyes fell on the white walls of the room, opposite to the only exit, that slowly glided open. When it left a gap huge enough, it revealed a small-enclosed space, containing one man in it. Roxas swallowed, if the men who just left had looked sinister, this one that was right in front of him now, was completely a monster.

The man was huge, a lot bigger than Roxas. He was more masculine than normal by the fact that the blood vessels visibly crept on every muscles of his arms. His hair was disheveled and his face was distorted into all kinds of angles. His eyes were unfocused, as if he was living in the little world in his head. And the only thing that kept him in spot was the chains binding his wrist and ankles, their tails were unseen in the dark space behind him.

It was the kind of man who Roxas would have imagined coming out of an insane asylum. Then again, Destiny Island and Twilight Town had no insane asylum; such place existed only in his study books or movies. Roxas like to keep it that way; somehow it had found an escape route and became his real nightmare.

Fear had finally caved in on him. Out of instinct, he cautiously took a step to grab the twin swords on the floor and fell into defensive stance, despite how much his head was screaming for him to run.

"Murder, rape, assaulting, this man has committed all the crimes you can name. Yet, he still roams this world freely. What do you think about that, Roxas?" the voice from the speaker questioned.

Something in his mind clicked, and he believed he knew where this was leading to. An insane man locked up with him in one empty space. A weapon offered to him. Still, he found it hard to believe. It was too surrel. Roxas whipped his head up to the speakers that glared down at him.

"What the hell does this have to do with me exactly!"

"I'll tell you about Sora, and all the questions you need answers for…once you defeat him."

Roxas's eyes widened as his fear had been confirmed. He took a wild guess, "Defeat? …As in kill? What the hell!"

"Roxas, you know what exactly needs to be done in order to at least keep yourself alive."

With that said, the noise that shook Roxas to the core was the clinking noise of heavy chains. Roxas didn't even have to look to know that the prisoner's chains were snapped free. He didn't have time to say or even think as the insane man charged him.

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There was only one thought that kept running through Riku's head, and that was how could he have done that. The consequence of it solely lied on his temper and uncontrolled emotions. He never was that kind of person, Riku was always calm and collected. If there was one person that could compose himself when the world fell apart, it would be him. So why was he losing himself now? He blamed it all on his day; it had been one of the worst days he'd ever had…and not only that, now Riku had to forcibly admit that it had been his blind jealousy…and unstableness.

Riku knew now what he had always thought about the boy in front of him. Weren't they best friends? Sora's smiling face, saying that they were best friends was still vivid in his memory, now it was history.

Sora had always been the one not knowing, while Riku tried to hold everything back in. They were young back there, Riku had made-believed that being best friends would already suffice, but now things were different.

He wanted Sora all to himself, like he did four years ago. Only that his feelings had grown more intense, given the absence of Sora for years. They were not little kids anymore, a few snuggles could hardly satisfy him.

However, he'd just realized what he'd done was _so_ wrong,when the boy beneath him couldn't struggle any longer, and therefore, was left lying and trembling there between his arms. Every line on Sora's face read fear and apprehension.

_'What have I done…?' _

He backed off and finally let go of Sora's wrist after he'd pinned them for too long…they'd turned white under his touch. He sat back up, and fell into silence. For the first time in his life, he didn't know what to say and do. He reflected on many, that he should have been doing but not what he had already done. Shouldn't he have been tucking Sora into bed and assuring him that everything would be all right? That Sora would be safe with him…and he wouldn't fall into those dirty hands? That they used to be best friends and Riku remembered that even if Sora had forgotten?

And he wouldn't have even minded if Sora started calling him a frigging sap.

That was only wishful thinking now.

Sora's soft whimpers pulled him out of his thoughts. Riku watched as the boy beneath him brought his hands up to cover his eyes. The sight sent a pang of pain straight to his heart.

Back when they were little, he'd seen Sora cry, but he wasn't the cause. Now that he was the cause, it felt worst a thousand times more.

Sora didn't cry though, and Riku knew he was taking great pain not showing it.

Feeling worst ten folds over, Riku only gawked at Sora's unmoving form. At the moment, he swore Sora looked really dead, and in turn it was killing him. Wasn't he supposed to feel better now that the brunet was officially his now? No, the guilt that he'd never felt through his entire lifetime was now eating him away.

He needed to say something, he had to do something, to make things right.

"…Sora," he found his voice cracked.

There was a long silence where anxiousness weighed down upon Riku's shoulders as he waited for the brunet's response.

Until it came…

"Get…off of me," the brunet's voice was a shaky, but every syllable of them was carved with aggravation.

Realizing that he was still hovering above the boy, and it wasn't helping, he slipped himself to the side. Once he did that, Sora immediately pushed himself up into a sitting position. An unknown kind of pain Sora never experienced before shot up through his entire body, causing him to shut his eyes tight and groan, with his face contorted in pain.

"Don't move yet," Riku said as he reached to Sora, attempting to provide some support. His mind and thoughts were killing him and at the moment he just wanted to do everything to help the brunet. Help he thought he did, but his hands were batted away callously.

"Don't touch me!" Sora wailed. How he wished he could be swallowed up whole right then and there. He'd wished he was anywhere but there, but his limbs were dead to him. Still, it didn't stop him from trying to move.

"You won't be able to move so fast, stay still." Riku had to keep his voice in check, he sure didn't want to sound like he was weeping himself now, seeing the boy in such state.

"And whose fault is that!" Sora returned viciously through a hiss of pain as he curled himself into a ball after he failed at trying to move. His face buried into the blanket he'd pulled up enough to cover himself and hair obscuring his face.

_'My fault. Say it, say that you're sorry. You didn't mean to…' _Riku yelled mentally at himself. Somehow, the words were harder to get out.

"I…" Sora began through a cracked and muffled voice. "…_hate_ you."

Oceanic green eyes widened. Sure it wasn't the first time Sora had said that to him. However, what Sora used to say back when they were kids was all out of childish frustrations, Riku knew they were unreal or at least were temporary. This time, it was poles apart, Sora sounded real. On the top of all that, when Sora regarded Riku with his eyes, it was anything but forgiveness.

Riku heard what Sora said, it registered in his mind, but he didn't want to believe it. His words were getting the best of him, "…What?"

"I _hate_ you," Sora repeated with his eyes that read pure resentment.

Before Riku could hold himself back, he grabbed Sora's shoulder and shifted the boy so that the brunet was facing him. Sora's expression of fear and a wince under Riku's contact did sting the silver haired boy, but he couldn't find it in himself to let go. All the things he wanted to say, still were left unsaid.

"Le…let go," Sora said, his voice to Riku, came out as a whine. "Let go of me." When Riku declined to comply, Sora began struggling again through the pain. "Let go!" He knew he was losing the last bit of his sanity and what he wanted most was the only means of his trust. "Roxas! ROXAS!"

"Sora! Stop calling this Roxas for a minute. He's not gonna be here to save you!" Riku yelled. '_I'm_ the one that saved you from them, can't you even see?' At the tail of that thought, Riku was also aware that he couldn't save Sora from himself. "Try to get the fact that he's been sold like you! To someone we don't know and we can no longer reach! In Hollow Bastian, the person who was sold to the Black Market is as good as gone!"

Startling at Riku's revelation, Sora went limp. Grasping in the opportunity that the boy in his arms stopped struggling, Riku bent in and held the smaller boy. "Shh," he cooed in Sora's ears, but noticed the other was far from assured.

It seemed like forever before Sora tensed in his arms, his whimpers sounded something incoherent that Riku could barely make out that Sora wanted out. Still, Riku declined. Until Sora's uptightness was diminished, Riku noticed the boy hadn't give in, but he'd already passed out.

"Shit," he cursed to himself. _'A first reunion in four years and I did this to him.'_

Years and years that he spent every available time thinking about Sora, and finally meeting him at last, Sora just didn't remember a thing. He had every opportunity in the world to set things right when Sora's world was falling apart, yet, he had _wronged_ Sora, and literally _violated_ him. Even if he regretted what he'd done and no matter how much he would have to fight for repentance, nothing could guarantee that Sora would ever forgive him.

However, that didn't mean Riku would give that up.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Roxas's eyes fixed on a once living, but now a corpse at his feet. He had been drawing some uneven breaths while his hands that held the sword wouldn't stop shaking. He started to stagger backward until his back hit the wall at the end of the room.

Once he ventured a look at himself, he wasn't surprised to see himself covered in blood. The sight made everything else blur to him, but one thing that remained clear and constant in his mind was the fact that he had killed a man.

He was on the verge of screaming. But he felt that if he did, it would be like he'd accepted what had been done. Earlier, he thought he and Sora, being kidnapped from their home was bad enough, then they were separated and sent to God knows where, this was even worse. Now, he had ended up killing a man while Sora was still out there, or…he didn't want to name the worst case.

"It is done, Roxas," the voice came from the loudspeaker again, after having been gone through out the horrible ordeal… Roxas would have rather converse grudgingly with the dark-looking lab coated man than fighting an insane man again. Then again, it wasn't just a fight.

"No, no, no," Roxas mumbled while shaking his head. "I didn't…I didn't mean to…he was coming right after…me…he wouldn't listen to me…I-"

"The man was clinically insane and lawfully guilty. You have done the right thing-"

"NO! I had no choice…I had no…" Roxas breathed.

"Exactly, you have no choice. And you passed the test," the voice from the speaker had no remorse, no emotion whatsoever. "My person will be down there in a minute to get you out of there, and you will report to me."

When the sound of the speaker went off, Roxas sank to the ground.

It wasn't long before the door opened. Roxas didn't move from his spot on the floor, nor was he bothering to look up to see who was there. His eyes were fixed on the white tiled floor and his head hung low. When the cloaked man called to him, he couldn't find it in himself to pay attention, even if the other would probably tell him what he wanted to know so badly.

"Roxas," the cloaked man tried again. "It's over, for today." When he got no response, he knelt on one knee to study the boy who looked like he'd been dead himself. "Look, kid. That man over there lived only to stain the world. What you have done…well that's doing the world a favor. Don't let it get to your mind. Now, can you walk? So we can look over your wounds and get you cleaned up. Then we can get right into business…eh, the explanation."

Slowly, Roxas looked up. From all the insane circumstances he'd been thrown into, he could tell that the hooded man was somewhat consoling him by that kind of tone. Still, the fact that this hooded man was the very person that thrown him into such a mess was vivid in his mind.

"You…" he drawled out between his gritted teeth, "Because of you…"

The hooded figure pointed to himself and leaned in a little, "Me? By the way." He pulled his hood back, revealing a man that looked in his teenage years, with slicked back spiky flaming red hair, and a pair of cat-like green eyes, a small inverse tear tattoo under each of them. "The name's Axel. Got it memorized?" the redhead said as he tapped a finger against the side of his head as if to emphasize his point.

His playful tone provoked Roxas enough to make him tightening his hands on the weapon that he'd been holding for too long. It was like a lifeline now. Although, he believed using it once was already enough, he couldn't help using it again against the man that gave it to him in the first place.

Sensing what was coming, Axel backed off, "Hey, easy there, kid!" His words fell on Roxas's deaf ears; said kid was fast on his heels and started swinging the swords at him. "Whoa! Hey, Roxas!" When it seemed to him that calling would only be a waste of time, he sighed. And instead of sending a blow to knock the kid off, he summoned his own weapon, a pair of chakram. He was surprised, as well as fascinated by how the boy was unfazed upon seeing his weapon. "All right. Fight fight fight."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Axel pinned Roxas to the floor, and remained still as the sharp end of his chakram hovered above Roxas's face. On the other hand, Roxas's weapon had long been detached from his hands. "Simply amazing, Roxas. I thought your stamina already ran out, yet you managed to even make me lose my breath with this fight."

"You took me from Sora! Now I don't know where he is and how am I supposed to protect him when I don't know which hellhole he'd been thrown into! Damn it…" his voice slowly dropped to the lower level, Axel could make out that this time, Roxas's energy was really running short. "I killed a man, shit. I don't even know what the hell is going on! What's going ON!"

Roxas wasn't exactly sure why he had rambled his pent up frustration, but things were already too much, a little more would already have killed him if he didn't pour it all out.

"Like I said, first, let's get out of this bloody room, so I can nurse your wounds and tell you what the heck happened," Axel persisted.

Drawing his eyes closed dejectedly, Roxas asked again, "What's gonna happen to me now? Just tell me that."

There was a short seconds of silence before Axel said, "You're gonna be fine…in due time. Now, get up." The man pushed himself up and pulled Roxas to his feet as well.

He knew he wouldn't be getting an easy answer. Things were getting worst and worst, and if he didn't act accordingly, he might not be able to find Sora. With that in mind, he let Axel drag him to wherever he wanted him to go.

After grudgingly and impatiently letting the redhead clean and bandage his wounds, Roxas got out of his bloodied clothes and changed into the one given to him which was the black coat similar to Axel's. When he was all done, Roxas was taken across the hall, to what seemed to him, like a dungeon lab. He flicked his eyes from left to right, trying to remember the path around as much as he could, but the intricate patterns of the place made it impossible to memorize it in such a short amount of time.

"Don't get lost, kid," Axel said as he glanced back to Roxas, causing the younger boy to give him a sour look.

The only thing that was a constant pattern to him since Roxas saw it repeatedly from door to door, was some kind of insignia that looked like the cross on the upper part and an upside down heart on its lower part.

"That's the organization's insignia," Axel explained, sensing Roxas's curiosity.

Roxas saw it again on the large door that Axel had stopped in front of, marking the end of their passage. Once they were in, Roxas met his gaze with the only occupant in the room who seemed to be busying himself with the numerous monitors in the room that displayed some disturbing places to Roxas's eyes. At the time, he couldn't careless and he started, "Tell me where Sora is."

The bandaged-face man, after detaching himself from his work, answered, "He happened to fall into good hands."

Roxas forced himself to remain calm at the ambiguous answer, and tried again, "Where? I must see him."

"He's too far for you to reach now. And you have the commitment here to fulfill," the man revealed, all the while, his tone very detaching.

"What commitment? As far as I know, I never knew you people or promised any commitments before," Roxas returned icily, his patience was running thin again.

"You owe us, Roxas. You and Sora were about to be sold in black market, a place where it is impossible to escape from whatever those dirty hands would do unimaginable things to you." The man paused, letting it sink into Roxas, and continued, "We, the organization, are keeping track of them and we prevent worst case scenarios that could befall upon innocent victims like you and your brother. When we found out about you boys, we got into the pre-bidding. Axel managed to get you out. Sora, on the other hand, was confirmed by someone we highly trust, that he would bring Sora out of there, in which he did-"

"Why couldn't you bring us together? Why do we have to be separated?" Roxas shot up.

"Do you really wish Sora was here?" The man countered, which immediately threw Roxas into silent thought. "No, you don't."

True, Roxas wanted to be able to have his brother in his vision, after all he was the only family he had left. But if Sora had to end up here, killing someone, he knew the younger boy couldn't take the feeling as much as he could. Sora would fall apart.

"Additionally, you were the only one with the potential that we want."

Roxas's eyebrows creased, and the man took it as a sign that the boy wanted an explanation.

"You woke up before you should have when the drugs were still in your body, you had the strength left to try and fight. And back there in the lab, your instinct to survive-" Upon seeing Roxas stiffen, he decided not to finish. "Need I say more?"

True again, Roxas was very resistant to any kinds of drugs. He had been since he was little. He barely got sick and any kinds of chemicals had less effect on him, compared to the norms. It had always been a wonder, but Roxas took it as luck that made him that way.

"Now shall we get into business…" said the man as he motioned to the monitors behind him, which displayed countless images of disturbing scenes. Some in which Roxas could make out as murder, rape, assaulting, robbery, drug dealers, and all kinds of crime.

"What you are seeing here, are what's happening out there, in this world." Then he turned his eyes back to Roxas. "According to what I said, we, the organization keep track on the people with dirty hands around Hollow Bastian, which is a place full of these criminals that roam the world freely even if they rightfully belong in prison or even a casket. Our mission is to get rid of these trashes and restore our world. To put things in short and simple terms, our job is to eliminate them. All the details will be explained to you by Axel, now that you've passed the test. You're dismissed," he finished.

Roxas's hands shook, they had been, since he ended someone else's life, now they were getting worst. "You rambled as if things are so damn simple! Those people that stole Sora and I from our home are scumbags and you people are no different! What gives you the right to decide what to do with me or Sora! Why! Who are you!"

"My apologies, I'm Diz." The man said with a hand leveled above his chest. "I am a servant of the world." He paused and laughed, his tone, to Roxas, sounded something close to a maniac. "And if I'm a servant, then you should consider yourself a tool, at best."

With that said, everything was clear to him, and Roxas didn't like it, not one bit.

"Was that... Was that supposed to be a joke?" His hands shook more and more, "'Cause I'm not laughing!" Roxas yelled as he charged right in. His target didn't seem like he would be doing anything except standing there. But before Roxas knew what was happening, he was already on the floor. Waves of pain shot through his head, and he wailed. Something was killing his head. The pain last about seconds but to Roxas, it felt like hours. That was an unknown kind of pain he had never experienced in such a short period. He gasped, clutching at his head that still throbbed.

A tad bit of memory that he had been on the operating table returned. He pushed himself up with one hand and threw the man a sour look. "What…have you done to me!" He asked between gritted teeth.

"A microchip, it would send a wave against your brain should it be activated. Given that, human brain is sensitive, you won't be able to fight against it. Plus, it works as a tracking device as well." Roxas watched tiredly as Diz pulled his hands out of his pocket, and the man resumed, "The controller is with me. But I don't suggest you act according to what you are thinking now. Even if you'd be able to get the controller, there's still no easy way out of here."

Roxas paled, yet he could hardly contain his anger. "I hate you _so _much!" Roxas directed to Diz.

"Calm down, Roxas!" Axel urged as he knelt beside Roxas, putting his hand on the smaller boy's shoulder, but the blond batted it away. When Diz smiled, Axel regarded his eyes to the superior, "And you are provoking him!"

"Anger and hate are supreme. They will keep him strong," Diz chanted.

"Man, give the kid a break," Axel sighed.

"You do that. Now, leave, I have work to do," Diz dismissed them again.

In the end, Roxas couldn't help but scream.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Anaesthetize me just till you return,_

_I feel the loss like a squandered opportunity to whisper,_

_You're all I ever needed._

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

There, I managed to put something about the organization. If everything goes right, I'll be able to make something canon out of this.


	3. Ch 3 Dawn till Dusk

Shoot me now for I've revised chapter 2. I'm really sorry if I'm making any confusion. But well, I have to do it after I've thought things over. Thanks to carefreecat and thewriterwannabe, your points really got me thinking. I swear that once, the idea of two KH characters having sex, albeit willingly seems kinda off, let alone minors like Riku and Sora, geez. But this story is the product of my need for something angsty, so I put it that way. Anyhow, Riku raping Sora is wrong, eh?

So here's the change: There's a reason behind Riku's violation upon Sora. I put a hint in this chapter (if you don't mind, check over ch. 2 again, the before and after raping part) the whole truth will be revealed later. But all in all, he didn't do it out of rage, but of jealousy and unstableness.

Also another change is about Shin-Ra, having watched FF AC, I wanted to make them good guys instead of bad. I revised the part where Riku reflected his thoughts before Sora woke up in chapter 2. So meanwhile, I 'm still a little lost as to whom I should bring up as main antagonist. If I use Maleficent, would it become a humor? Give me some opinion; I'm such a scattered-brain!

Chapter edited 25/09/11

**Chapter 3 Dawn till Dusk**

In the morning that followed, Riku watched Sora wake up from his sleep. Riku carefully constructed the neutral expression on his face, despite how his guts twisted inside. The stab of guilt jabbed when the brunet noticed him and attempted to scamper away in fear. It compelled Riku to take one step back, leaving some distance between them, and then he asked, "How are you feeling?"

In response, the brunet glared and snapped, "How am I feeling? I feel like I've been ra-!" Sora's hands immediately flew up to clamp at his mouth, stopping whatever he was about to finish. His cheeks scorched red, and he seemed to be doing his best to duck his face behind his hands.

It was obvious to Riku that Sora wanted to demean him, but he found that doing that was too embarrassing to say. If they had been in a different situation, a better one, Riku would have found Sora's reaction amusing, and a lot else besides. Unfortunately, and in actuality, there situation was most horrible.

Glancing sideways, Riku cleared his throat and tried a different approach. "Does it still hurt anywhere?" To his great guiltiness, Sora's face burst into flames. _'Shit…' _He mind cursed, realizing that he had been continuing to embarrass the other boy. If Sora was still in pain, it would most likely be the subject Sora wouldn't want to touch.

Well, that had come out wrong.

To Riku, even if Sora was on the point of boiling with rage, it was never enough to actually scare him. Now, Sora's glare was different. His eyes were darker.

To avoid the piercing look from Sora, he turned to his wardrobe and pulled out some articles of clothes and a towel. "Anyway, let's get you cleaned up." He said as he shifted closer to the bed and extended a hand to Sora, who, in turn, flattened himself against the head of the bed. "Look, you don't want to stay in that condition, do you?" Riku pointed out.

"Anything is better than being around you," Sora snapped heatedly.

The words stung Riku's heart. At that moment, one of his memories regarding Sora clashed with reality.

'_Stay with me, Riku!'_

In his line of vision, he saw Sora's expression shift from a glare to a frown. Riku realized that his internal emotion must have slipped. He pushed the memory aside. "But you can't move much, can you?" he wasn't sure if that would provoke Sora again, but he only meant to help.

"Stop reminding me of that! I'd rather crawl than have you helping me!" Sora hollered.

Staring down into the boy's angry face, Riku withdrew his hand and placed the articles he'd been holding on the end of the bed. "Fine, I'll leave you to yourself. Call me if you need anything, I'll be right outside. Come out when you're ready, you need to eat." With that, Riku forced himself to leave the room.

Sora watched as his perpetrator left. Slowly, he drew his knees up, allowing himself to tremble when no one was around. The only thing that he could think of was how much he wanted to leave the place and find his brother.

'_Right, Roxas…'_

Thinking about his twin, he feared that his brother could have fell into the similar circumstance, or maybe, worst. Either way, it drove him to move, even on the account of pain. He grabbed that offered articles. As much as he hated anything that belonged to that guy, he had to accept the fact that he might have to act accordingly in order to find a way out of this…

After a bath, Sora couldn't deny that a partial of him felt better, although he was far from being all right. Then he stood hesitantly in front of the door, anticipating of what would be in store for him after the other night he didn't think anything would compare. He gasped when the doorknob was turned, and his very guilty party appeared and looked somewhat, to Sora puzzlement, taken aback.

The silver-haired boy looked…apologetic.

"Oh, sorry. It had been long, I thought you…" Riku trailed off and left it as that. Getting no reaction from Sora, he beckoned for the brunet. "Come for breakfast already."

Not really knowing what to do Sora stood still, but the scent that leaked from the door and filled him made his stomach issue a complaining growl. He quickly shoved his hands over his body part that betrayed him and ducked his head, only to cautiously peek at the other boy.

Riku failed to restrain his chuckle.

Turning red, Sora craned his head sideways. He didn't see a hand reached to his hair until he felt it ruffling his brown, soft spikes, causing him to jerk away in an instant.

The silver-haired boy retreated his hand. Sora, who was close enough, didn't miss what had passed in the other's eyes. It was a pained smile.

"Come," Riku murmured as he turned around. With another beckoning, Sora trailed a few feet behind him.

Sora eyed the place, scanning the area. Out of the room from where he had stayed was a large, white foyer. Necessities and amenities were situated neatly around the room, there seemed to be a lack of decoration, except lots of book piles. A quarter of the foyer was the small adjacent kitchen. If Sora remembered right, it should have been labeled Minimalism style.

A door lied on the far end of the room, littered with shoes, including Sora's own. He looked at the door with interest immediately. His only escape route. _Crap_, there was passcode security system. How he really wished Roxas was with him now.

Giving up for a moment of escape attempt, Sora circled back to the matters at hands. So there was only one bedroom in total. That raised a question as to where the other boy had slept last night. Sora had woken occasionally from his restless sleep, six or seven times that night and the other boy wasn't there. Then his eyes swept over to the sofa and spotted a pillow and a thick folded blanket on it.

Another question rose as to 'what?' After a thought, he answered himself. _'Maybe to prevent me from escaping through the only door?'_ It was completely foolish to even think that the other boy gave up his comfortable bedroom for him. Sora always had a knack of an overly optimistic mind. His twin had hoped he would change a little and be aware for once. Now, Sora believed it was the right time he followed his brother's warning.

They sat and ate their breakfast in silence. Riku stole glances over Sora from time to time while the other looked anywhere but at him. Although with how many topics Riku could practically come up to start a conversation, he restrained himself from doing so. He had yet to feel stable. Whatever was running inside of him the day before, today it had wore off. But he couldn't be too sure that he would hurt Sora again, even with words. So he remained mum.

_RRRRRRR…_

Both boys stirred at the sound that broke the silence. Sora watched Riku settled his spoon down and sauntered over to the counter where the cell phone was buzzing. He picked up the device, and the line after giving a glance to the illuminated screen.

"Hey, Kai," he said and paused, waiting for the person on the other end to finish a line. "No, I'm not going today…eh…yeah…I don't feel very well." He glanced sideways to Sora and caught the boy staring. "I'll call you back later, okay?"

Sora quickly returned his attention to his bowl when Riku walked back to the table. Riku didn't say anything. As for Sora, he would have done anything, as long as he could just leave. With that in mind, he ventured, "You got somewhere else to be?"

Riku couldn't bring himself to be any uplifted, even when Sora started the conversation. He knew where this was going. Sora didn't even sound a bit curious, the questions was just aired, nothing else. And Sora's stony face was battering him. Nevertheless, he answered, "Yes, school."

"You go to school?" Sora asked, toneless.

"Do I look old enough not to?" Riku asked back, trying to make the most of the conversation.

"Er, no," Sora's answer came truthfully, and so was the next statement. "Just that…I never thought a school boy around my age could do something so evil."

There was a loud clank as the spoon collided with the bowl. Sora was sure the other must have been angry, but when he glanced at him, he saw the complete opposite from his assumption.

Riku's expression looked very disturbed, but far from angry. It took Sora a while to admit it, but Riku's expression could have been…sadness.

The silver-haired boy got up, his hands on the table, shifting his weight on it. His eyes trained on Sora who continued sitting. "I…never was there before. My first and last time there was only to get you out of it."

"Right, to get me out there and hurt me yourself," Sora said bitterly as he, set his spoon down as well. He'd only had a few bites and was now losing his appetite. "How could you do that and still justify yourself? You…" Here Sora paused, asking him in silence.

"Riku," the silver-haired boy supplied.

"Riku," Sora echoed with a tone that sent needles down Riku's spine. "You-"

"The name's Riku. Doesn't it ring any bells?" He tried again.

Frowning, Sora questioned, "Since yesterday, you were talking like we know each other. Do I know you?"

"Ask yourself that," Riku returned as he held his breath.

Sora believed in his memory, and there was no Riku in it. "Then, I don't know any Riku." That said, he caught the hurt look in Riku's eyes before the silver head was cast downward, hair obscuring his eyes. Riku's reaction caused an itch against him, but minding about it was the last thing he needed. He circled back to his plan. "Don't you have to go to school today?"

Riku, to Sora, looked as if he knew that was coming. "No…I'll…I have to look after you." To his horror, Sora laughed. It was the kind of laugh that Riku never heard from Sora, and never imagined one coming from Sora. The laugh was forced, taunting. Sora never taunted, let alone attaching it with a laugh. It scared him that Sora looked as if he was about to lose it.

"It'll be better off if you're not around. I'm sure I'll be fine again once you're gone." Sora declared in stern voice.

'_Stay with me, Riku…'_

The memory seemed so far away now.

Rising from his seat, Riku asked, "You'll really be fine if I leave?"

Sora nodded, more than enthusiastic although he was surprised. Was the older boy really falling for it?

"Fine, I'll leave," Riku announced. "But you have to stay here; it's the only safe place for you in this world."

"I think you're confusing yourself with the world, since being near you is the most unsafe-"

"Sora!" In an instant, Riku was right in front of Sora, his hands on the boy's shoulder. With a reflex reaction, left over by what Riku had done to him, Sora cowered. The boy's trembling shoulders shot cluster of terrible sensations through Riku. He withdrew his hands in a fleeting moment. That had been the third time he had done that. Every times, it was getting harder to deal with. He turned sideways and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I mean it, Sora. Outside is worse than here." If he had to play it hard way, he would. Out the corner of his eyes, Sora cringed.

Sora, who barely afraid of anything, was afraid of him.

If he stayed, he would only hurt Sora, maybe some space would do them good. With that in mind, he made his way towards the bedroom. Before he opened it, he said to Sora knowingly. "You don't have to try the door or anything. It's locked, the keys are with me." He didn't miss Sora's searching eyes. "Don't pull any stunts, Sora. You're still hurt, you won't be able to get the keys from me and I don't think you know the pass code?"

Sora turned red, from either anger or embarrassment, or both.

It was true. The night earlier proved it. Sora did try to fight Riku off, but to no avail. All he managed to do was clawing and scratching the older boy's face, leaving small red marks on the pale skin. But Sora supposed it was because only his head was spinning. If only he was better…

Riku disappeared into the room. Minutes after, he came back out in his school uniform.

He wasn't surprised that Sora was no longer at the eating table and was at the door instead, struggling with the doorknob. Knowing he was caught, Sora flattened himself against the wall next to the door. He looked half-frightened, but mostly those eyes held aggravation and resentment.

Riku forced a wry smile as he pulled on his tie and grabbed his school bag. "I'll pretend I didn't see that." He received a puzzled look from Sora. The brunet must have been very confused and probably doubted that he suffered a polar personality or whatnot. Whichever, he didn't really care. "If you're hungry, find something in the fridge." Then Riku went to scribble something down on the notepad next to the phone on the counter "If something's up, or if you…need anything," his voice turned uncertain at this line, but he continued, "Call me anytime." Lastly, he made his way to the door. His approaching presence made Sora step away cautiously.

"Go finish your breakfast, and take the painkillers," Riku pointed to the table. He looked ready to leave, but not without a longing look to Sora. While the smaller boy was still in guarding stance, Riku warned again, "Sora, don't try to leave. This world is nothing like where you came from. This mansion comes with tight surveillance; it will keep you in safely. I'll be back at four, okay?" he waited until he received a hesitant nod, then he left.

The sound of the lock clicking several times filled the silence in the room. Sora sank to the ground, and he wasn't sure as of why he hadn't been bouncing around for escape route right at that moment.

It must have been something to do with this Riku guy. Sure, Sora's anger was still as clear as daylight, but there was something about Riku today.

Riku had looked so anxious…so full of remorse. Not that Sora wanted to forgive him, but he wasn't blind. If Riku hadn't really been full of guilt, then he must have been one hell of an actor.

Nevertheless, the damage had been _done._ Grieving over it wouldn't be Sora's option. He wasn't a girl. And not that his close ones would taunt him with it, his people back home were not that kind. But still, he couldn't detach the feeling of being aggravated and humiliated.

He did hate Riku for it. With that thought, he dragged himself to his feet to grab the painkillers. Once he had it, he got down into the matter of escaping.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sitting quietly, Riku lost himself in the space out the window from his classroom. One of his best friends came, the girl with violet eyes and red hair, claimed the seat in front of Riku's desk as she said, "I thought you wouldn't come today, you rarely come late."

"Hey, Kai," Riku greeted, trying to look casual, but he felt that the other was waiting for his answer, so he gave one, "I had to."

"What happened to your face?" The girl, Kairi, asked.

Riku absentmindedly brought his hand up to his face. When his finger brushed the side of his cheek, it stung. The marks that Sora had deposited. "It's just…a scratch…"

"I know it's a scratch, but from what?" Kairi voice laced with slight concern. She had been friend with Riku for years; she knew when Riku was hiding something dark. For the most part, she didn't pry into it. But if she believed her concern was needed, she would.

"A…cat," Riku mumbled.

"Okaaay…" Kairi looked a bit far from convinced. "So what's wrong with your face?"

"Huh? What again?" Riku's face turned confused.

"You're spaced out a lot today. You look…disturbed, and sad."

Riku closed his eyes and managed his best to smile. "It's really nothing, Kai. Like I said this morning, I'm just…tired."

"Hmm," Kairi narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but sensing her friend wished not to get into the subject, she let it go. "Let's go for lunch, Irvine and Selphie are waiting."

Riku had lost all of his appetite since the crime he had committed the night before, but he complied anyways.

Somehow, Riku ended up very worried. He had left his mansion just because he wanted to grant Sora's wish. He trusted his place would do the job in keeping the boy in, safely. But what if Sora tried to call the police or escape? Both were less likely, given that police in Hollow Bastion barely responded to phone calls since there were too much false alarms from pranksters, and Sora wouldn't know the number anyway. Also, his mansion was on the high floor, thick windows and tightened securities wouldn't allow Sora to leave. But then again, this was Sora he was talking about. Sora could turn impossible to possible.

_What if…?_

Riku couldn't take it. Soon his head would explode out of too many negative possibilities. In the middle of this lunch with his other three closed friends; he suddenly pushed himself up…and ran.

"What the-" exclaimed Irvine, a young man with green eyes and auburn hair in a ponytail, his black cowboy hat that could be seen occasionally when no instructors were around. "What's up with him?"

Selphie, a girl with green eyes and brown hair that curled up by the nape of her neck, shook her head and turned to Kairi, who, a moment ago, was trying to follow Riku, but couldn't keep up with him. "Is something wrong with Riku?" She asked.

Kairi walked back to her seat, "I don't know."

"He was acting weird this morning in my class," Irvine inserted. When his friends took on slightly concerned features, he consoled, "Maybe he'll come back? He could have forgotten something at home."

…

When lunch was almost over, and Riku hadn't come back, Irvine believed it was the time to make a call. Kairi and Selphie were at his side when he pulled out his phone and dialed.

The phone line signaled a few beeps. As soon as it was picked up, Irvine questioned into the receiver, "Why did you run off like that, Riku? Is something wrong? You have us worried." He waited for the person on the other end to talk, but he was greeted only with a long silence.

"_He's gone,"_ came a husky voice after a few more moments.

"What? Who?" Irvine asked, confused now.

Another long silence; then a heavy sigh.

"…_Nothing,"_ Riku answered, his voice was near zombie-like. _"You guys don't have to worry, okay? I'm a bit tired; I'll call it a day. Until then, see ya, Irv."_ Then the line went dead.

"What happened?" Selphie asked, inching closer to her friend.

Irvine stared at the phone. The conversation had been cut off. "I have no idea. He was talking about something-someone gone and said he was tired, he was going to call it a day. He said he'll be fine. I could be wrong, but…" Irvine expression dropped into a frown. "I've never heard Riku sound so…crushed."

That was all the more reason for Kairi to believe something was wrong with Riku. Sure, Riku had a knack to do everything and solve every problem on his own. But if overwhelming worries had arisen, he would have vented or talked to them. So far, Riku had articulated his dark thoughts only when it came to his family. Aside from that, they had no idea.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"We work grave yard hours, from ten to six in the morning. Each of us will patrol around the deserted area around Hollow Bastion to investigate criminal's activities. Daily. The area will be assigned by the superior, aka…Diz. I'll go with you on tonight's mission. You're a newbie; you'll be assigned to an un-tough area anyway so take it easy, but still, you've gotta BE AWARE." Axel explained as he walked ahead along the hallway. He felt the organization's newcomer drifting away, he pushed, "Got it memorized?"

"Yeah," Roxas drawled as his eyes slid half closed in tiredness. Whatever this group or organization was, they were obviously made of stones, or probably something worst. If there was some hidden union working towards such a goal… to eliminate bad people as they'd claimed, Roxas would have expected some training, some indoor lessons, before being thrown into a real battlefield out there. _What the heck did they think he was? The undead?_

"I know it's too sudden, but Hollow Bastion's time is running out." Axel spread his hands to the side. "At least, you're on the good side."

Roxas looked ready to punch something, mainly Axel. "You call a gang, who forced me to join them by putting a frigging microchip to blow up my brain should I go against them, and thrown me into an insane man's den, good guys?"

"Eek,"Axel looked uncertain, or more like mocked uncertainty. "Ansem's just having hard times. Criminals pop up endlessly and this world is dying, he's compelled to play it the hard way."

That raised a question in Roxas's mind. "Do you have that chip in your head too, Axel?"

"Ah! You remembered my name," Axel drawled with a grin, an act that irked a serious Roxas. "For your answer, no."

"What? How come!"

"Because I joined the organization on my own account," the redhead explained. "And the others too. You're the first member that the Superior implanted that chip in. Well, that's aside from our little intelligence channel and small associations." Upon seeing Roxas's jaw drop, Axel elaborated, "We've been searching for a while. So far, none matched our requirements. Until we found you, the superior saw great potentials in you-"

"Oh well," Roxas cut in with a mocking tone, "And when you found me, you people didn't offer me with the luxury of choice?" Then Roxas cracked a leering smile. "Maybe I would have joined you on my own account so you people didn't have to bother embed that damn chip in my head!"

"We did, Roxas," Axel revealed in cool tone. When Roxas cast unbelieving eyes on him, he continued, "We did talk to you when I took you back to the Headquarter. You were a little blurry, but conscious enough. You declined every offer and were only hell-bent in going back home with 'Sora' even when we tried to convince you in more ways than one."

"What…?" Roxas's eyes whisked away from the redhead, he thought hard. "How come I don't remember that?"

"Most likely because of the drugs side effect, always happens." Axel replied and went back to the explanation, "Anyways, you'll get paid, a decent place to live in," Axel said in his most persuasive voice as he came to a halt in front one of the room among the other twelve in line. He pushed the door that was carved "XIII" in front of it and motioned for Roxas to get in. Roxas stepped in the room, studied the room which was big enough for two. The room was in plain white, with streaks of gray, and no window to the outside world. It was now labeled Roxas's. "Once you get to know all the members, it won't be as bad as you thought. Now you have time to rest up until night fall."

"You gotta be so frigging kidding me," Roxas growled in low tone, looking back at Axel. "I got a little brother out there, probably scared and dying. You guys expect me to stay here?"

Sighing, Axel knew he was getting nowhere, he was just running around in circles. He slipped on a serious expression and jabbed the side of his head with one finger. "Remember what you got in here? No luxury of choice, Roxas. Commit it to memory."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Riku found himself at the Hollow Bastion Police Department, looking for only one person. With how rundown Hollow Bastion had become after a certain incident, police barely did their jobs. Most had given up while a few remained with the possession of self-righteousness. However, there were only a handful of individuals who could live up to being decent police officers.

Here, Riku was well known as some certain individuals' friend. With helping hands by pointing fingers, Riku followed the direction and spotted a mid-twenties man in black. He had short, brown hair, and blue eyes. The thing that stood out of him the most was the scar that ran from his forehead to the bridge of his nose. The man was busying himself with the piles of documents.

"Leon!"

Said Leon turned upon the call. "Riku?" he greeted casually as the silver-haired boy rushed up to him. Leon was used to Riku's enthusiasm when he discovered something new regarding the issue that Leon had been working on. But Riku always kept his cool exterior, very much like he himself did. This time, Leon felt emotions leaking out of the boy. He asked, "Is something wrong?" instead of the usual _'Found anything new?'_

"Yes, I need your help!" Riku breathed out.

A good amount of people around them turned their attentions on the two, regarding them with surprise. Leon as well, had his eyebrows quirked. Since he knew Riku, he couldn't remember the last time the boy had asked him for help. While Leon himself never requested Riku's favor, the boy usually involved himself in when it came to Leon's work.

After dismissing the others' attention off with his intimidating eyes, Leon studied how wild and disoriented Riku seemed. He presumed that Riku must have rushed here. He put the documents aside, papers could always wait. Then he gestured with his hand to calm Riku down and take a seat on the bench nearby.

As soon as Riku claimed the seat, he started immediately. "You gotta help me find this boy. He has spiky brown hair, blue eyes, and tan skin, and a small frame. He should be in his blue Scot pattern uniform, if he hasn't change into anything." Riku then thought back, _'He even changed back into his own clothes before he left…'_

"Is he a friend of yours?" Leon interrogated and waited when Riku's eyes turned wistful.

Slowly, Riku nodded. "Yeah, he's a friend of mine." _'But maybe he won't count me as one…not anymore.'_

"Okay, where did you last see him?" Leon questioned.

"My mansion," Riku said, barely above a whisper. He figured that if he wanted Leon's help, he'd have to relay all the information to the man. And that meant including his story with Sora. Somehow, he couldn't find it in himself to reveal all of it. "He's my childhood friend. He was kidnapped from his home island and sold to the Black Market."

"The Black Market?" Leon didn't mean to interrupt. But such issue had always taken up the space in Leon's mind; all of his works were dedicated in digging into the source of this to destroy it completely. It interested him.

Sensing that Leon was swaying from the main subject, Riku hit his fist into his thigh, hard, to grab back the other's attention. "Leon! I'll get into that damn issue later, but I really need your help here!"

Leon was taken aback with how Riku was reacting. That kind of action didn't seem right coming out of Riku. He observed the boy deliberately, and found something off. With his hands, he angled Riku's face for a closer examination, his eyebrows furrowed. His actions made Riku mute momentarily.

"Riku, were you exposed to any kinds of drugs?"

"What?" Riku didn't understand.

"Your eyes are bloodshot, in an uncommon way," Leon pointet, "…and you are acting unlike yourself."

Having the other swayed out of the issue completely, Riku felt intolerable. "I'm acting unlike myself because-!" Then he'd just realized. _'-acting unlike myself? Well, I believe so, after what I had done to Sora. I was out of control…'_ "What's wrong with me?" he found himself asking. _'Weren't that because… it's about Sora?'_

"If you don't know what's going on, we have to take your blood test," Leon emphasized, his tone pressing.

Feeling the need to get it over with, Riku had to meet the terms. "Okay, fine! Take the blood now, but let someone else test it. I'm not gonna stick around for the result because I _need _your help, _now._"

"Okay, you can tell me about it while we take your blood." Leon led Riku to the testing room while Riku continued to talk through out the process.

"My friend, I got him out of there and this morning while I was at school, he escaped." Here, Riku looked as if he was about to tear his hair out of frustration. "You know how my mansion is; I thought it would keep him in. The window is thick, but he managed to break it. The protruding blocks by the window that would let to the rooftop are near indecent to climb, but he made it without falling off. And I couldn't find him anywhere." Riku finished, burying his head between his hands now that the blood taking was finished.

Never had he seen Riku in such a state, it took Leon more than a second to kick into his role. From his belt, he pulled on the walkie-talkie and started reporting to his colleagues on patrol. On the wall, the clock read the time for him and Leon realized that, one, Riku mustn't have finished school yet, and two, his shift in the station had yet to be over.

"You're not going back to school, aren't you?"

Riku shook his head. Leon would have not approved with Riku breaking out of school grounds, let alone allowing him to go around with a suspicion that dangerous substance was running in his body. But Leon knew the look Riku was giving him. Whoever this person Riku was looking for, Riku wouldn't trade him for anything in the worlds.

Leon spoke into the device once more, this time, on a different line, "Yuffie, I need you to cover my shift."

A static noise sounded before the end of his line responded, _'Yuffie coming right up!'_

A few minutes later, Yuffie, an animated figure bounced into their vision. She was a girl with short black hair and eyes, dressed up in all ninja-like gear. She wasn't an official police officer, but was Leon's friend, and her abilities were a great help to them.

Then again, Leon wasn't really a police officer as well. Some certain circumstance had dropped him into this position, but Leon didn't view it differently from his prior job of being a mercenary.

The ninja girl spotted Riku and greeted him cheerfully. "Oh, hey Riku! Long time no see!" When Riku barely responded, she cocked her head to the side. "What's wrong?"

Having too many _'what's wrong' _in a day, Riku didn't know how much longer he could contain his indignation. Of course nothing was right. He understood perfectly that his friends were just concerned, but still…he couldn't take the fact that he had been the one who caused Sora to run away.

If he hadn't forced Sora into-, and did what he was supposed to do, Sora would have trusted him. Now, he'd escaped and was out there, exposed in the dangerous, uncaring, cruel world, not to mention it was twisted as well.

"His friend is lost," Leon explained to get Yuffie's attention from Riku who looked ready to burst. He gave her the description to work on, along with the vial of Riku's blood. While at these, he turned to Riku and asked, "Name?"

"Sora," Riku said. "He had always lived on Destiny Island; he wouldn't know how to survive in this world."

That explained enough for Leon and Yuffie as to why Riku had looked so worried. Hollow Bastion and Destiny Island were complete opposites in every aspect, mostly people. _'Nice people from D.I. coming to H.B. were as good as dead.'_ But they could still take the comfort in the fact that H.B. granted the death wish only when the sun went down. In daylight, it was still somewhat a world to live in if you were an old citizen, having its good memories and history in mind, that is.

"And he's…" Riku regarded both of his friends as he stood up. "He's attractive."

The two so-called police blinked at Riku. Yuffie would have taken it lightly or even use it against him had Riku pulled on some starry eyes. But no, Riku looked gravely serious; he was implying something very important.

Well, _'Attractive…namely cute people…double dead.'_

"Let's get going, Leon," Riku urged.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The patrol had been tense. As Leon drove along the road, he saw murky clouds over Riku's head as the boy swept his eyes over the surrounding every now and then. Still, Leon couldn't shrink away from what he considered duty; he wanted to make the most of it, "So…you want to tell me about the Black Market now?"

Riku never tore his gaze out of the cityscape that he painstakingly searched for the lost boy as he replied, "Sorry, Leon. To tell you the truth, I have no insights about them whatsoever. "All I can tell is my process to get to Sora." He didn't wait for any response; Riku knew any information was helpful. "Yesterday, I went to Shin-Ra Corporation and sneaked into their confidential room out. I found this letter that contained some fact sheets about a kidnapped boy from D.I., Sora. He was about to be auctioned. I went directly to my father and..." Here, Riku paused. Leon knew it wasn't a thing Riku wanted to talk about or even think of. Things were always sensitive when regarding Riku and his father or his family. "I asked him to request them to put me in charge. My father then had a turk whose identity was hidden to be my agent, bringing me in to attend Black Market, I was blindfolded all the way from Shin-Ra Company to the place where they held auction, same went with the return trip-" _'-with Sora in my arms…'_

Something was missing. Things never were easy when it came to Riku's father. Leon believed Riku must have gone through a lot more than he had let on. But the look on the boy's face spelled no more rooms for that issue.

"So you were there. It wouldn't be a surprise if the blood test shows some harmful substances in your body," Leon observed. "Did you have depersonalization or hallucinations? Do you feel any different in any way?"

"My body had functioned properly up until now, and no I don't have depersonalization or hallucinations whatsoever." Then Riku was struck by a notion. He slowly slipped in the question, having the bad feeling about the answer. "Does…the lack of self control have something to do with this?"

"It does, in most case. Drugs alter mood states in an unpredictable manner. It is very common that a person becomes extremely moody and temperamental. They'll do something without conscience."

'_Damn…'_ Riku cursed mentally._ 'Does this mean that what I did to Sora, was the effect of drugs? The thought of taking Sora by force never crossed my mind…'_ Riku didn't know what he was supposed to feel about all of this. If that was the case, he could justify himself and blame it on the drugs. Nevertheless, it didn't change the fact that he had already violated Sora, and the damage was irreversible.

Sora already hated him.

"Riku?" Leon's call pulled him back from his disturbed thoughts.

"I'll…I'll be fine. We'll see the result later, all right? I have to find Sora," Riku said with a finalizing tone, knowing Leon was more concerned about what the heck was wrong with him and his body.

In the meantime, Leon had another doubt. "Riku. You said Sora's your childhood friend. So why was he running away from you after a night?"

Riku went frigid, and it didn't go unnoticed by Leon's eyes. "I did something terrible to him." Riku admitted only half the fact, excluding the details. _'I saved him from them, but I couldn't save him from myself.' _A painful thought hit in as he resumed,"Moreover, he didn't remember me. It has only been four years. How come he forgot?" _'-And I thought I was important to him.'_

"In Black Market, there could be lots of things that affect his memories," Leon explained.

Riku felt that it was one hell of a big bad joke. He scoffed, "Of all the things, it had to be me? I am…his best friend."

"Losing memories about what happens randomly, Riku. It doesn't matter of how important that memory is. It doesn't count." Leon clarified.

In response, Riku only nodded. Little did he know about Leon's history, but Leon used to be much colder than this, or so he heard from the others. The young man did have some sort of a soft side for Riku.

Leon began again, "So the Black Market and Shin-Ra are connected. Additionally, there is also this hidden organization that no one had really known about except their agenda in eliminating villains on the night streets."

"Shin-Ra, I don't know. But the Organization is on good side…I guess," Riku said and received an odd glance from Leon. Riku pointed, "They eliminate bad people." Leon's eyes turned odder, so Riku ventured on, "What do you think?"

"I think…right and wrong are not what separate us and our enemies. It's different standpoints, our perspectives that separate us. There's no good or bad side; just two sides holding different views." Leon speculated, "No one knows why they do that. There could be many reasons. Even if you think eliminating bad people without law is fine, there could be negative motivations behind their acts."

Riku always wondered why Leon, although didn't choose to, but living in the role of a police, wouldn't judge right and wrong classify as his job. Leon once worked in a position that questions about the enemies were not supposed to be asked, that must have been the reason, Riku believed.

His mind returned to Sora again.

Where could Sora have gone to? Several places came into his mind, but that considered Destiny Island. He had no idea where Sora would go in Hollow Bastion.

At this rate, Riku's state wasn't improving, Leon decided to pull the car over to the nearest convenient store. Before, Riku say anything, Leon urged, "You're dehydrating. You have been since we left the police department, go get something to drink." Riku was about to argue, but Leon cut him off. "Go, you're not making it anywhere in that condition. Sora could be anywhere around here too. I'll look around." His tone was finalized, obliging Riku to obey.

Riku took off while Leon as well, got out of his car and reflected on the information and his presumptions. While his mind reeled on, his eyes caught sight of an old woman who skipped on her feet and fell. Leon was about to go out of his way to help her, but a boy, who appeared out of nowhere, beat him to it.

Leon wasn't the type of person who allowed emotions to guide him, but the fact that not many people nowadays would lend a hand to anyone in need, something simple as helping an old woman, resorted a smile on his face. And that boy was…

'_Spiky brown hair, blue eyes, blue uniform…'_

Perfect match.

The kid looked ready to leave after seeing that the woman would be fine on her own. Leon, had no time, he walked right in without a glance to where Riku was. When he reached behind the boy, he tried, "Sora, right?"

The boy turned, upon seeing the towering form of Leon, he drew back slightly in cautiousness and asked, "Who are you? How did you know my name?"

"I'm a police officer, Leon," the young man introduced himself as he drew out his badge and flipped it to confirm his identity.

"A police?" Sora's feature turned a little brighter. "I was looking for a police station. People said it was somewhere around here but I got lost!"

Leon quirked an eyebrow at how animated and sincere the boy looked, rare to this world indeed. He signaled for Sora to follow and explained, "Come with me. Someone is really worried about you."

When Leon turned, Sora fell into steps behind him. He looked up at Leon and asked, his voice all the more excited and expectant. "Who-Roxas?"

"No. It's Riku. He's been searching madly for you." There, Leon thought hiding wouldn't do anything. Riku said he had done something terrible. But how bad could that be, coming from a person like Riku? Riku truthfully worried about Sora. Even if Sora had forgotten him, they were friends, they would understand somehow. But Leon suddenly felt the absence of the following boy. When he looked back, the boy was well distance away.

"You're with…that Riku?" the boy asked, earlier excitement gone, replaced with discreet and apprehension.

'_Or was it that bad?' _Leon had to think again. "Look, I don't know what happened to you two. But Riku's going to lose a screw if you don't return safely to him. You're not a person of this world, are you? It's dangerous out there on your own." To him, Sora barely listened anymore; the boy looked ready to run.

And run, Sora did.

It was at that point in time that Riku, who had been out of the store a while ago, spotted Leon on the far end, and his eyes caught sight of Sora as well. He let the drinks fell to the ground as he dashed after Leon who was in hot pursuit of Sora.

Leon heard Riku calling after him, and after Sora.

The boy was fast, to Leon's extreme astonishment. The boy jumped above the trailer stationed nearby and hauled himself over the fence. Leon followed suit. He caught sight of Sora's face once he glanced back, Sora mirrored his expression as well. The boy must have thought that Leon couldn't come this far too.

The chasing ran down to the street, and into the nondescript alley. There, Sora made his final turn by slipping himself inside the small vent hole which led into some kind of abandoned warehouse. Leon couldn't fit in, and nor could Riku, who reached him shortly after. Without words, they looked for a door and found one. Tearing down a worn down lock, they went in.

Sora was nowhere to be found. Inside, there were numerous windows, doors, and holes on every direction that Sora could use to escape to the other side. They went through them and scanned the area ahead. No sign of Sora. When Riku was about to pick some random path and follow it, Leon warned, "You're not going randomly."

"We looked randomly, and we found him," Riku said, out of breath.

"Riku," Leon pressed with the tone of finalization.

Riku couldn't help the frustration that continuously built up inside of him. He banged his fist against the steel door nearby, causing a loud sound echoing the empty space.

"I lost sight of him again," Riku hissed.

Leon looked away. "Sorry, Riku. I mentioned your name, and he ran."

"Oh…" A crooked smile appeared over his anger. "I wouldn't doubt that. You're not to blame, I hadn't warned you in the first place."

"Well, he was talking something about Roxas too," Leon noted.

"Roxas," Riku echoed and shook his head, "Could be his friend, could be his…whatever, I don't care." Riku couldn't be too sure if he meant that. Whoever this Roxas was, seemed important to Sora, Riku didn't know how to deal with that. "Let's just…focus on Sora…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kairi had been meaning to go home before night fell. After school, she had gone to Riku's mansion just to check if he was okay, but he wasn't there. Riku did pick up her call but he only mumbled a few words. Kairi couldn't be too sure of that. She waited for him until six, since he didn't show up; she decided to get home before it was dark.

There was a short cut from Riku's mansion to her house, under the dimly lit bridge. So far, she had been using it in daylight, it looked safe enough, considering that there was no one. It was safer than walking where the gangsters hung out. It was only half past six, the sky was somewhere between the dark and light. Kairi convinced herself that she'd been through this path several times before. Just because it was a little dark didn't mean she would fall prey to some ill-fated circumstance.

Unfortunately, her luck just happened to run out this time.

On the lower level of the street, she went past under the bridge. She didn't see a group of four drunken men at the corner until she was already half way in and it was already too late. She tried to act casual and focused her attention to the path ahead.

Unluckily, they followed her.

"Sis…you think you could lend us some munny?" one of them called out.

Kairi suppressed the urge to scream and run while she ignored them. A hand suddenly snatched hers, and she was instantly alarmed. Out of fear, she ran.

"Get her!" They rushed to her and Kairi knew it was a wrong decision to ever choose this path. She scampered up the bridge and made it almost to the level of the upper street where a few passer-byers strolled about. She screamed, but a hand already got to her. From her eyes, she spotted someone noticing her misfortune. The sight of them turning away shattered her. She was dragged back down to the lower level while she didn't stop screaming.

One of them shoved her against the cold wall, she knew they weren't after her wallet. It would have been more than a relief if they were just after her munny. Tears started to sting the corner of her eyes.

Breathy words confirmed her utmost fear. "Let's have some fun, Sis-"

"Hold it right there!"

The voice was firm and clear, coming from the stairs direction, making all of them turned to the side. They spotted a small figure there. As it rushed closer, it appeared to them that it was just a boy.

"Let her go!" the boy yelled irately.

One of them issued a laugh, and the others followed. Kairi watched anxiously as one of the men advanced towards that boy. "And who do you think you are, little one? A knight coming to save a princess? You sure…aren't!" with that last word, the man drew back a fist and delivered a blow.

The boy evaded it, easily as he did so. Then with his feet, he sent the man crumbling to the ground. The boy, now on their closer inspection, had a very livid blue eyes, and gravity defying brown hair. He repeated, "I said let her go!"

The one who'd been gripping Kairi rolled his eyes. "Argg, let's get this little brat!" He said as he lunged the boy. This time, the boy took a few steps ahead and connected his fist to the man, square in the jaw before the man's fist made contact with him.

Another man down, but that was when the boy and Kairi noticed the one who had went down earlier was getting up. The boy's blow wasn't lethal enough to send them unconscious. Or more like, crap, these people were hard to get down, like cockroaches; else, they wouldn't have been called thugs.

The man who got up grabbed his alcohol bottle that littered about to crush the bottom of it off, and then he aimed the sharp edge at the boy.

Two men beside Kairi left, and launched themselves at the boy. Seeing that all the thugs' attention were on him now, the boy yelled to her, "Run!"

Frightened, Kairi did run. She almost made it to the safety of the top of the stairs, but the sound of the glass smash stopped her. She glanced back, catching the sight of the boy swayed, he must have been hit. Kairi yelled for someone to help him. No one did.

Meanwhile, the boy lost his balance. The thug took an opportunity to shove him down against the ground. While it seemed like the thugs that gathered around him would make contact with him by their feet, one of them knelt down and pinned him instead.

"You let her get away, you'll take her place," the thug breathed into his ear. "For a boy, you're really pretty-"

The boy was outright petrified.

The thug, however, was cut off when a blow was sent to his head. Then he fell directly on top of the boy who yelled and scrambled up and away. He saw the girl he was trying to save there, with a wooden plank in her hand. She looked alarmed.

On the other hand, Kairi still saw the utmost fear in the boy's blue eyes.

The left over three thugs gaped for a while, surprised at the girl's return. Within a moment the boy had grabbed the plank from Kairi while pushing her behind his back.

And Kairi thought that she should have given it to him a long time ago. The boy looked different with the makeshift weapon in hand. He was making real good use of it to. Before long, he had sent two men down, completely, they were barely moving. One left to go, but where was he?

The boy whirled around and found the last thug circled behind the girl. Before the thug could do as he'd planned, the boy gave her an alarmed look and yelled.

"Duck!"

Kairi did so, then she heard a loud thud above her, and a man crumbled to the ground behind her. Now the thugs were all done for. Kairi stared down at each of their faces, fearing they would get up again. She was shaking badly.

"Hey," a soft voice said to her, along with the hand extended to her crouching form. "You okay? Are you hurt?"

Kairi's eyes settled to the boy who was looking at her in concern. Kairi nodded and leapt to her feet with the boy's helping hand, noticing the other's hand quavered as well. When stood side by side, they were relatively of the same size. Kairi estimated the boy must have been around her age. But at the moment, she wanted nothing more than to get out of this place. The same place that she swore wouldn't be her choice of path again.

"Let's…let's get out of here," Kairi whispered.

They made it up the bridge. On the street level, bystanders were looking about at them. Their act angered Sora. "Why the hell did you just stand there! At least you could have saved the girl! You people-"

"Hey," Kairi's soft voice cut him off. Now, she assumed that her scream must have reached the street above. All of them heard it, but this boy was the only one who jumped in to help her. "You don't have to, they were afraid too."

"But-"

"Please."

The boy regarded her with unease, but he complied, "Okay, where's your house? I'll take you home." When he received skeptical eyes from her, he quickly added, "Wah! If that's fine with you!"

Kairi laughed, at his reaction and his sincerity. She knew how much tricky people in this world could be, but Kairi also was born with the gift to see right through people. She knew who could be trusted, and who couldn't. When the boy rubbed the back of his neck, she laughed more, and slowly, her tears finally gave away and slipped from her eyes.

"Hey, it's okay. It's over," the boy soothed. Then, he summed up the brightest smile he could. "I'm Sora. What's your name?"

Kairi blinked, she hadn't really been expecting the boy to pick such time to introduce himself. Then again, maybe it was the right time. "Kairi…"

"You were brave back there, Kairi." Sora encouraged. "I wouldn't have...made it out without your help."

Here, Kairi caught again, that greatest anxiety she'd ever seen was rooted in the boy's eyes. He was fearless when he approached to help her out of the situation, but he obviously was terrified when he almost fell victim himself.

Kairi bit back her tears. This boy was as scared as much as she was, yet he kept his strong façade on. She tried to smile, "I wouldn't have made it if you weren't there in the first place, Sora. You're not from around here, are you?" she asked conversationally, trying to stuff back her leaking emotions. When he shook his head, she smiled sadly. "Figures. Not many people around here help others that much anymore."

"Why…people here," Sora trailed off. He couldn't understand. Back on Destiny Island, no one tolerated this kind of misconduct. If you messed with one person, you messed with the whole islanders. "Should we call the police? We have to file a report on those scums!"

"No, they probably won't do anything. It's just the way it is," Kairi gave a sad smile.

Sora escorted Kairi through the path until they reached an area that seemed more cultivated. A few more blocks situated the surroundings where the street lights shone enough to provide some sense of security. They reached Kairi's place, a three-stories flat. A curly-haired girl was in front, seemingly closing of what seemed to be a café.

"Kairi!" Selphie called and noticed how her friend looked shaken. "What happened, Kairi?"

Shaking her head, Kairi smiled lightly. "I ran into some thugs, but I'm okay. Sora saved me." Then she motioned to the boy beside her, who was standing with uncertainty by her side.

After examining him for a moment Selphie greeted him, "Hi." She turned to Kairi again. "Are you sure you're okay?" Only when Selphie received a firm nod from her friend, did she smile to Sora. "Thanks for saving her."

"Do you want to come for a drink or something?" Kairi asked, and Selphie looked completely free of objection.

Sora hesitated. At this point, he did want something in his stomach to keep himself animated. The energy from the breakfast he'd had in the morning was gone from the running around and fighting already. But at the same time, he really wanted to find his brother.

"We have home-made cakes, sandwiches and pasta?" Kairi said in her most persuasive voice. "You look tired, Sora, and you looked hungry."

Sora waved off in embarrassment, "Do…do I?"

Kairi giggled. "I'm just kidding. But really, we make decent home made food, right, Selphie?" her friend nodded and announced, "I'm making dinner for all of us." Then she disappeared into the building without waiting for a response.

"Come on," Kairi pulled him by the hand a little, but Sora didn't move.

"Umm, are you sure I can go in? Do you live alone with that girl?" Sora looked more uncertain. "I'm a boy. After what had happened, I'd understand if you can't let me in." When Kairi regarded him with amused expression, Sora blushed a bit. "Wah! Not that I'm going to do anything bad! I'm not that kind of guy, at least I believe so. People in my island home do trust each other on first meeting…but here, I don't know. Well-"

This time, Kairi's laughter was straight from her stomach, making Sora blush even harder. "You really are something, Sora. I wish males around here could adopt some of your traits." She regarded him for a long while and said, "I know who I can trust and Selphie does know how to fight. So don't worry, Sora. If you have time, come in so we can fill your empty stomach."

"Heh, well," Sora smiled sheepishly and followed the girl.

The inside of the building situated several small tables and food container. It was a café.

While they ate together, Kairi started to talk, "Where are you living, Sora? I could call someone trustworthy to walk you home." Sora cocked his head to the side, looking unsure. "Hey, it's not weird to have someone escort you home even if you're a boy. Cute boys around here get abducted and molested, or worse all the time."

Nodding, Sora's eyes were wistful as he nipped on the pasta, "People around here are so strange…"

"Yeah, they are. They have been since this world started getting run down." Kairi agreed but she pointedly didn't go into the world's history. "So…where's your house?"

Upon that question, Sora bit his lips, he looked lost.

"You don't know where your house is?" Selphie had only meant to joke.

But now Sora looked crestfallen.

Kairi frowned. And after a long silence, she ventured, "Were you…kidnapped from your world?"

The brunet snapped his head up at her in puzzlement. "How did you…know that?" There was no suspicion in his voice.

The two girls' eyes widened as they uttered, "So it's true…"

Then Kairi answered, "People from other worlds, coming here, are either tourist, researchers, or kidnapped. But lately, we barely get any tourists, and I don't think you're a researcher. Plus, you mentioned about your home island. There's none around here which left only one possible thing." When Sora got quiet, she added, "If you're lost, you can tell us, Sora. I'll help anyway I can. It's the least I can do after all you've done for me."

Sora regarded the two girls for a long while. Kairi and Selphie had trusted him enough to let him in their house. Anyhow, Sora already trusted the girl. "Well, I…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Once the clock struck ten p.m., Roxas couldn't help but do as ordered. He had put on the organization's attire, and grabbed the twin swords; the very one he had been given to defend himself with and the same ones he ended up killing someone with. It was a pair of simple swords with a pristine, one with white color, the other was black, both had grey swirls indicating the patterns.

His plan of escape was foiled as he found no chance in escaping the redhead's company. It had been hours since Axel had glued his eyes on him. Having fought with Axel, Roxas discovered the redhead was a real warrior, he knew he wouldn't stand a chance in fighting the guy off directly.

Axel led him to the lower ground of the base, to the double doors of their stronghold. He pressed the passcode while covering it from Roxas's view with his back. Hearing a growl, he flashed a grin at the blond, saying, "Just precaution step for a few days."

Once they slipped out of the building, Roxas found himself in the middle of nowhere. But Axel's taking off urged him to follow before thinking. Looking back, he saw the exterior of the Organization's stronghold, which was a rundown warehouse, a complete contrasti to the interior which still seemed new.

'_I guess that's how they keep it a secret Organization. From here, nobody would ever pay attention to the abandoned warehouse.'_ Roxas mused.

"Keep in mind Roxas, stay close to me but don't drag me down. If we see bad guys, we eliminate them. That easy, eh?" Axel drawled as he walked among the boulders, from stones to stones, seemingly knowing the way in spite of the repetitive pattern of the passage.

Roxas felt irritated. "I still don't understand how you can judge people enough to kill them,"

"It's just common sense. Haven't you ever thought someone deserved death?" Axel questioned. Roxas didn't answer, but his eyes did convey something. Axel tapped his finger. "See? You do have someone in mind."

"It's not like I'm really going to kill him. You can't always use yourself as basis," Roxas snapped back.

"But you did kill a man," Axel brought up.

"Don't remind me." Roxas's impatience burned through him.

"Yet you recovered pretty quickly and now you're ready for the next-"

"Stop it," Roxas demanded.

"You-"

"Stop!" Roxas yelled as he fisted over Axel's collar and yanked the other to the ground. Roxas brandished his sword above Axel's face by an inch.

The redhead's expression was neutral as he looked at fuming Roxas. When it seemed like seconds or so that Roxas wasn't going further the sharp edge, Axel broke into a grin.

"You have it in you to kill," Axel stated blandly. "Additionally, you're really good at it too. Are you sure this is the first time you held a real sword?"

Roxas's eyes widened as he looked about and realized the position they were in, and what he almost did…again. Axel hadn't been wrong. Roxas felt the nausea rising in his stomach, but tried to stand his ground as he drew his weapon back.

"Yet, you can restrain yourself from killing me, that's a good sign. Aren't we a team?" Axel suggested.

"I…" Roxas breathed, cold sweat dripped from his face. He removed himself from the spot. "You weren't going to kill me. That insane man was…" he justified. "I can't die. Sora needs me."

"This world needs us, Roxas," Axel quoted and received a studying gaze from the younger boy. He shrugged, "Surprised? Well, that's not my line. It's the Superior's."

And to tell you the truth, kid. We actually don't kill people immediately if they're not on our death list, we take them to the Headquarter and dig deep into their backgrounds. Then we decide from there; wouldn't want to work our asses off for the wrong assumption."

Roxas narrowed his eyes, "So what you had told me isn't the end of the instructions for this whole ordeal?"

"Whole ordeal?" Axel gave off a surprised look and waved his hand. "Nah, we're far from the whole picture thing. There are a lot more than this world let on. Same goes for our Organization, you gotta learn it one step at a time."

"Whatever," Roxas rolled his eyes.

They continued to stroll for a while, until reaching a large boulder that sat in open space where it could overlook the lower part of the lower ground level. To Roxas, the place didn't look like a city. As far as his eyes could reach, there were only boulders to boulders along the winding mountains.

"Is this what this world look like? A Wasteland?" Roxas asked. "There's nobody here."

"We're on the outer part of the main Borough, the citizens lives there; it's the police's job to look over that area. Well, kid, this is some picture: our job…is to inspect this vicinity where it's most likely is the rendezvous point for criminals. Here I don't mean goons, hoodlums, thugs; those are in the police's hands. We only take care of them should we come across them, but our main job is to look over the big fishes. That means drug dealers, prostitution merchants, human traders, and abomination acts agents. Mainly, they all fall into the category of Black Market brokers," Axel classified. "There are several areas around here that hold those people. As of now, we're in the Ravine Trail. Criminals just don't pop up everyday, but they'll do, eventually."

"I see," Roxas responded.

"So our job now, is to wait. We can inspect from here," Axel said as he strode to one of the protruding boulders and settled over it. He signaled the other boy to sit, and Roxas did so.

Before long, Axel started to hum, a simple act as that got on Roxas's nerves.

Roxas's brows twitched. "Would you stop that? How can you treat the subject like a joke, Axel? You're dealing with human lives here, whether it's a villain or not. How can you maintain that cheerfulness?"

The redhead mouthed an 'oh' and his expression slipped into a wicked one as he leveled his hand about his chest. "That's because I have no heart." When Roxas looked as if he'd grown two heads, Axel added, "Seriously!" His face rebounded back to a frisky one. "We have no hearts, that's how we work. To the outsiders, we are 'Nobodies.'"

"Is that the Organization's tagline?" Roxas said sarcastically. "What does it mean, really."

"One step at a time, Roxaaas," the redhead drawled.

Roxas sighed. If he couldn't escape for now, he might as well draw as much information as he could. "Now we have time, don't we? Just waiting and watching. If you can't tell me about the Organization, then what about this world? Diz mentioned about a certain incident that occurred which sent this world downhill, right? Tell me."

"That, can do."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sora told Kairi briefly of what had happened to him by leaving out the names of certain people, as well as what had been done to him. With Kairi listening to him attentively with genuine concern, Sora felt lighter.

When his two-days-tale ended, Sora circled back to his brother issue. He had expressed that he wanted to look for Roxas, but Kairi convinced him to wait for the break of day. Going out at night in Hollow Bastion wasn't something a person in their right mind would do, given that the world was ranked for the top ten of criminal rate, especially at night.

After a thought, and lots of afterthoughts, Sora complied.

"But…about your brother, Roxas. I have to say that searching for him blindly isn't a good idea. "Did you go to the police?"

"Er…yeah," Sora realized he hadn't brought up what had happened with a certain police officer. He smiled crookedly, "But they'll-" _'-only lead me back to him.'_ "Kairi, the police here, do they sometime stay on the…er…bad guy's side?"

"Sure they do, lots of corruption in this place, some think that munny is everything," Kairi explained. "Even the good police, they sometimes barely react to citizen's report. There are just too much false alarms."

Sora felt that he was saved by what she had explained by this point. But who would help him then? He waited as Kairi fell into a pensive state for a while before the girl brightened up.

"No need to worry! I've got a friend who's investigating about this kind of stuff! He also knows a decent police officer who'd surely be able to help you out!" Kairi said, bringing up a cheerful air.

With her tone, Sora's face mirrored her expression. "Re…really?"

"Really!" Kairi beamed, "Hopefully, I can get him to talk to you by tomorrow after school. Well, if he didn't show up, since he he's a little ill today, there's always the next day. But don't worry; I know he'll be eager to help someone out of this kind of situation."

Sora's heart lifted at the news. "Great!"

"Hey, if you don't mind…" Selphie appeared behind the door way of the stairs. "I'm really sleepy now."

"Sorry! I kept Kairi up-" Sora quickly apologized. Selphie had excused herself to give them some privacy a while ago. But apparently, she wasn't going to sleep until Kairi got up the stairs with her. Just to stay on the safe side.

In Destiny Island, people trusted each other on their first encounter. So far, Kairi and Selphie made him almost feel like people at his home by their warm welcome.

"Nah, it's okay. Kairi told me you'll stay the night," Selphie said through a yawn.

"You…you'll let me stay?" Sora whipped his head back to Kairi, staring at her with unbelieving eyes.

Kairi nodded. "Seems like you don't have anywhere else to go. You should stay here until we figure things out."

She led Sora to one of the room in the back of her flat. It was a store room where utensils for cooking were kept neatly. The girls made a makeshift bed by the thick mattress while Kairi gave Sora her biggest shirt and pants to change into, luckily it fit him. When he returned, Selphie rubbed her eyes sleepily in front of the room and urged him in. Sora made an awe expression.

Kairi spotted him on the doorway, spoke, "It's not much, but-"

"No, this is promising," Sora interjected as he walked into the room and looked around. The room wasn't big but it was more than enough.

"Well then, I guess I'll see you in the morning?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Kairi. I really owe you."

"That's my line," Kairi returned with a chuckle. "Well, go ahead and sleep."

When Kairi left, Sora immediately crawled onto the mattress. It was only then that he felt how tired he was. He snuggled into the welcoming mattress and blanket. He smelled the faint scent of flour, vanilla, and chocolate. When his conscience lingered, the olfactory reminded him of home, the baking of cookies and cakes, when his mother was still alive.

For the first time since he was thrown into this world, he was relieved. At the end of the day, he found someone to confide in, in this crazy world.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Riku dragged himself into his mansion. At his feet, he found a note from Kairi. The girl had paid him a visit, probably worried about his weird behavior. He pulled out the phone and dialed while he locked the door and sauntered in.

"Riku! You didn't come back to school."

"Hey, Kai…" Riku said back as he plopped down on the sofa.

"What happen to you today? Irvine said you mentioned about someone's gone? Is something wrong?" came Kairi's concerned questions.

"Oh…" Riku paused and thought fast. "The cat, he's gone. I looked for him, found him and gave chase, but he ran away," he said so as his eyes absentmindedly traveled to the huge gap of the broken window, said cat's handiwork. "But…I'll be fine. You worry too much, Kai."

"That's because you don't normally behave like that even if the cat you picked along the way is gone," Kairi clarified.

"Well, this one's special," Riku responded. "Look, I'm really tired, Kai. I'll go to bed now. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Oh, okay. I just want to check if you're all right."

"I assure you that I" _'-am dying inside' _"am fine," Riku said in his best neutral tone, the best he could muster.

"Okay, see you tomorrow then! Good night, Riku."

When the line went dead, Riku kept his eyes on the broken window.

No trace of Sora. Riku wanted to keep searching but Leon insisted that he didn't, reasoning it was the police's job and Riku wouldn't be able to do much if he kept wearing himself out.

He knew Leon was right. He could leave it to Leon to run into Sora again? But chances like that didn't come as easy. Still, Riku knew if he acted accordingly to his emotions, things wouldn't turn out the good way. He'd only end up making his friends worry…or worse, another mistake.

Thinking a little, Riku realized there was something in Kairi's voice aside from her concern. She had been meaning to say something, but the fact that she didn't made Riku decide that it could wait.

That night, Riku couldn't bring himself to go to the bedroom and slept on the sofa where he barely did anything to the huge hole that brought in the chilly breeze.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shapes fall into place  
For once in your life you make  
A clean breakaway.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

That was long, eh? I didn't intend to break into two chapters, since I break it according to events. It wouldn't be much if I didn't put Sora meeting Kairi here. Er anyone is Kairi-bashing? I hope not?

Detect any OOC and something that seems off? Let me know!

Okay, while I don't intend make it a songfic, I couldn't resist the urge to put some lines here. Try the song! It's some inspiration for me on this fic.


	4. Ch 4 the Lost Brothers

Chapter 4 the Lost Brothers

"Once upon a time, Radiant Garden was a great world ruled by a great ruler, Ansem, who dedicated everything he had to his people so they could live their lives in prosperity and happiness. It had been that way all along, and for a while it seemed like it would stay that way… Until…a certain group of people arrived. They came from every direction around the world, and settled in and put Radiant Garden as the center of their illegal acts. From then on, one criminal led to another…and another…and another. They invaded this world to the point where the troubles and crime couldn't be reversed.

"The good old ruler endeavored to bring back peace again, with his good apprentices. They managed to prevent the world from falling apart, but one fateful day, his presence was suddenly absence. The citizens could only assume that he was dead, then the throne fell into the hands of his number one apprentice by legal document."

"No sooner than that, Radiant Garden was once again flowing with criminals. The world then ran down with corruption. People were no longer happy. Some of them tried protesting but found themselves dead for standing up against the new laws. They were unable to change things. Many citizens who could afford to pick up and leave did so. While some had to remain, they were much less brave than the ones that tried to stand against the awful changes."

"The world's name was done for, and it changed into Hollow Bastian. And that's where we are today…" Axel drawled at the last word, spreading his hands.

Roxas nodded and asked, "What's the name of this apprentice, the bad ruler?

"Ah!" Axel mocked exclaim, "Good. You managed to catch onto the main idea. The apprentice is the big cheese. He's our enemy. His name is Xemnas."

"Xemnas," Roxas echoed. "So the organization's goal is to bring him down?"

"Bingo," Axel snapped his fingers.

"Can't the Organization just locate this guy?"

"You're fast, you get to the point," Axel complimented.

"It's easy to figure out that much. From what I've seen anyways…I assume that the Organization would do anything, per se, conducting immoral act, just to defeat Xemnas. The Organization would have done that already if they knew this Xemnas's whereabouts. If that's not the case, then maybe this Xemnas is very strong, and possesses a powerful barrier for himself?"

The sound of clapping filled the night air, followed by Axel's amused tone, "Impressive, Roxas. You got it all right!"

Roxas looked away. He was far from being proud. He had always been fast with complications. Many times it saved him from trouble, but many other times he wished he wouldn't have anything to do with it.

"So the Organization believes that the small fries we search randomly on our patrol will lead us to the big cheese?"

"You're half correct on this one," Axel grinned, "Big cheese, aka, Xemnas is ruining the world. Small fries meanwhile are destroying people's lives. We need to save both."

"That's almost kind of you guys." That somewhat compliment was attached with a mocking tone. Roxas considered himself who didn't want anything to do with anyone, let alone any other worlds. Back home he'd had a few close friends and only his brother. They were the only ones he cared about. He had been pretty much contented with the way things had been going. He wasn't like Sora who was always buddy buddy with everyone, and obsessed with helping people out of their miseries. Lending a hand to strangers just was not Roxas's element.

While Roxas wallowed in his own thoughts, Axel spotted something lurking in the corner. He nudged the younger boy. "Speak of the devil, here are some small fries now."

That night, Roxas didn't find himself free from the sight of blood and death.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

When morning came, Sora bolted right up. The most fearful event in his life had left him with lingering awareness. But once he realized he was in Kairi's place, he let himself fall back down on the cushions with a sigh.

Clearing his mind, he pushed himself up, and met the small lights that filtered through the small windows. Getting up, he paced to the door, feeling that there should have been things to do. In front of his room, he found some articles he needed for a day. On them, a small note written, _'Morning, Sora. I gotta go to school, I'll bring my help along after school. Once you get ready, come out and find a woman in pink, kay? See you! Kairi :)'_

The boy broke into a smile, organizing his hopes into place. Maybe help wasn't so far out of reach afterall.

After he was done, he did as told.

The door he opened led to the front of the café where few customers were sitting about, having their morning drinks, and socializing. Sora found himself behind the counter and there he met a young woman in pink.

"Er…miss?" Sora called, unsure.

The young woman turned, noticing Sora, she smiled. Said woman was several inches taller than Sora. She had kind emerald green eyes and brown, braided hair. The soft scent of flowers lingered about her. She looked mysteriously beautiful. When she spoke her voice was soft and sweet. "You must be Sora. I'm Aerith. Kairi requested me to look after you while she's gone at school."

"Um, okay." The boy returned the smile, already taken a like in her. After all, she was Kairi's friend, he trusted the source. "I'm Sora, but you know that. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. I'll fix you some brunch, just sit and relax, okay?"

"Brunch?" Sora asked as he swept his eyes over the room, spotting a clock that read 11.45. "I slept in!"

A warm hand landed on Sora's shoulder, and Aerith said, "Don't worry about it. Kairi briefed me on what had happened, you must be exhausted. Take it easy, okay?"

That said, Aerith prepared some food for Sora. While the boy had his meal behind the counter, he observed people. They all looked normal. So he believed this must have been the world that mixed with light and darkness.

Once he was done, Aerith suggested he go out for a walk for some air, but warned him not to wonder too far off since it was safe only in vicinity. Sora decided against it when more customers filled the café and addressed to the young woman, "I think you could use my help."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"What are you doing?"

Roxas narrowed his eyes as he tossed a brief glance over his shoulder, confirming that the redhead was indeed there. Roxas only had three hours of sleep, not to mention the bad dreams that had pestered him out of sleep at least five times. After all, the sights of blood were never pretty to his eyes. His mind was far from functioning properly.

"It's only almost twelve, your body won't hold up for long without rest. Where the heck do you think you're going anyway?" Axel spoke through a yawn, standing in front of his room in his pajamas.

Roxas' hand fisted against the maindoor of their quarters, desperate to get out. It would have been so much easier if it weren't for the pass code, but it didn't mean that it could stop him. "It's daylight, I'm free to do whatever I want, go wherever I want to go. I didn't go against the timetable, so you can't stop me."

"You're gonna go look for your brother, aren't you?" Axel knew he was right. "Hold on a minute-, will you? Let me get ready…you don't have to will me away with that glare, you'll need me anyways."

"Who says I need you?" Roxas grounded out.

"Okay, fine." Axel crossed his arms over his chest. "See if you can get pass that door by the time I gear myself up. If you still couldn't…then I'm your last ticket out of here, for today, that is." With that, Axel disappeared into his room.

To Axel's surprise, Roxas didn't really need him on the pass code's part. When Axel was all geared, he found Roxas opening the door. The younger boy was startled to see Axel by the time he managed to crack the code, then his blue eyes narrowed into boredom. He wasn't afraid of being found he could deal with that… He just hadn't anticipated the guy to tag along.

Roxas growled, "I'll be back by 9.30PM" He jabbed a finger at his skull. "The damn chip, remember? I can't friggin' escape anyway!"

"Keep it down, kid. You'll wake the others up. I assure you that they're not as lenient as I," Axel warned which effectively quieted Roxas. "Look, kid. Without me, you're as good as a lost boy. You need someone to guide you."

Roxas eyed Axel suspiciously. _Why was Axel helping him? Was Axel just being kind?_ No, kind wasn't the word that Roxas had in mind for this organization. Did Axel have a secret purpose for doing this? He thought this over as his feet crossed the threshold and paced purposefully. Footsteps behind him echoed.

Once they saw the light of the outside world, Roxas said without looking at his pursuer. "I won't owe you for anything."

"Sure, good to go?"

Roxas had one more riddle in that, but he'd save if for later, now he ought to find his broher.

Much to Roxas's chagrin, he had needed Axel to lead the way out of the stronghold. While Roxas told himself he could make it on his own on trial and error if only time was on his side. Yet, Axel's lack of taunt kept Roxas's cool and they headed off.

"So…are there any particularly kind of place you'd think he'd be?" Axel posted airily.

Lifting his eyes skyward, Roxas stated, "Sora always ends up in places with people who needs help." Roxas closed his eyes, recalling when Sora had called it a gift, but Roxas labeled it as more of a curse.

"Whoa, that's basically everywhere."

"Figures…" Roxas said as he thought, _'Crap.'_

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Sorry, Kai. I'm not available today."

"_What? Why? Won't you even listen first?"_

Riku stared at his cell phone in frustration, wanting to hang it up. Helping his friends was what he couldn't resist doing, but at the time, his mind was constantly occupied with Sora. He didn't want anything else, not when Sora hadn't yet been found.

"I have a very important task to do, but yeah, I'll listen," Riku managed, he could listen while he was looking.

"_Okay, there's this boy-"_

_RRR…_

It was from Yuffie, that meant it involved Sora.

"Ah, Kai, sorry. There's another line I've got to answer." Without waiting for response, Riku switched the line. "Yuffie? Did you guys find him?"

"_Hey, Riku. No, I'm calling on behalf of Squall to notify you that…You do have an adulterated substance in your blood. You were drugged, Riku, just like your friend. It's Phencyclidine. The drug has been known to alter mood states in an unpredictable fashion."_

"_Oh…right," _Riku thought sourly.

"_The chemicals in your blood are very thin, nothing lethal, but we'd better be on the safe side. How are you feeling so far?"_

"I'm…fine," Riku managed through troubled mind.

"Squall told me what happened; it's not really a surprise for such thing to happen when you attend to Black Market. It was already a miracle that you haven't done anything catastrophic."

A breathe caught in Riku's throat. He buried his forehead in his hands. Now the answer was there. Both Sora and he were drugged, they were plummeted into spirals of depression. Sora was immoderately frightened while Riku himself was excessively angry and then he'd… lost control.

"_After school, you'll come, right? Before we go to look for your friend, we'll run some blood tests again._ _Well, see you after school then."_

The conversation ended, leaving Riku alone with his thoughts.

There was a riddle…who was responsible for this? Sora must have been drugged at some point when he'd been brought to the Black Market. But Riku had kept his mind alert and vigilant all the time; he had refused all kinds of treats.

_Who could it be? And what for?_

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sora had been helping Aerith with the customers all afternoon. He learned that Paopu Café was owned by Kairi and Selphie, their opening hours ranged randomly, depending on their free time and helping hands.

Sora also learned that Aerith aced knowledge about other worlds, but only in theories, nothing practical to help him out of the situation. Therefore, his anticipation came to an end when Kairi returned, only with Selphie.

"I'm sorry, Sora. My friend who I believed could help you didn't show up at school today. He seemed to be busy with something. But I'll try again tomorrow."

Sora's expression mirrored her long face for a brief moment before he masked it with a bright smile. "Don't worry about it." Then he lifted his chin. "I'll go look for my brother."

"Sora, it's dangerous out there. Please trust me, I know for sure that my friend can help you, if you could wait a little, this place is safe." Kairi affirmed, Selphie nodding along with her.

"Well, er…if it is okay with you-"

"For you to extend your stay? Of course, it's okay!"

"I really appreciate that, but I still have to look for Roxas a bit." Sora's eyes turned toward the window, "I still got time before sundown, right?"

"I'm coming with you." Kairi said.

Sora gaped at her and quickly waved, "No no no, I can't bother you that much!"

"You're not. Besides, you'll get lost." Kairi opted to warn instead of asking around.

"After your unfortunate event yesterday, you should lay low for a while, Kairi," Aerith inserted, "I'll go with Sora."

"Ah! No, I don't want to trouble you either, Aerith," Sora raised.

"What trouble?" Aerith asked in a sweet voice, implying that she didn't want an answer and headed off, "Come on."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Dammit!" Roxas slammed his fist against one of the chunks of fallen walls.

Their entire day was spent searching but all they earned were fruitless efforts. Hollow Bastian was much bigger than Destiny Island. So far, Roxas had only been looking in the par of outskirts, according to Axel. Now Roxas understood that Axel wouldn't be assisting his search. Axel only made sure that he wouldn't get lost, or more like keeping him quarantine. _What was he hoping for from the redhead anyway?_

"Mellow out a bit, kid. Don't go stressing yourself," Axel whistled casually. "Cool it off and you'll be able to think."

Glowering at the redhead, Roxas hissed. "What is there to think about! I just need to look-!" Roxas halted, when a very significant something crossed his mind. "Wait…" he jerked his head to Axel. "That guy…Diz, mentioned about my brother in a safe place. He knew it, right? He knew where Sora is!"

Axel shrugged. "Well, he did. But take my advice kid, you don't wanna mess with him. His nerves easily come down to nothing, and your head is in his hand."

Roxas winced. The pain that was injected to him back there was embedded in his very heart. He could almost taste the pain by the mention of it. "But…still I have to know."

By the time night was approaching, Roxas was forced to leave their last search area, which was the ruins of the castle gate.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Sora, we shouldn't go farther than this," Aerith warned as she stopped. The boy looked back at her. "Beyond that were the ruins of castle gate, most perils occur out there. Please keep that in mind, this Bailey is as far as you should go." She looked out to the wide gap, noting the sun was sinking from the horizon.

Sora followed her gaze. From there, he could see how much more of the outskirt that he hadn't searched, yet was warned not to. Far, right in front of him was an odd shaped castle. "Who lives there?"

"No one. Long ago, the great peril between the former and current ruler of this world broken out in there, now it was left the ruins"

That led Sora into the history of the world.

When he was sent back to the café, Sora had been considering leaving Kairi's place to go look for Roxas without the limitations of boundary and time. Somehow, he trusted Kairi, and whatever help Kairi had been meaning to bring, he'd trust that too.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Somewhere beyond the Bailey…

"The product from Destiny Island isn't in that kid's hands anymore. No. IV reported that he fled from the boy's and hadn't returned within a day. Your plan on corrupting their bonds must have worked."

A silver haired man cloaked in black turned to regard his follower. His amber eyes narrowed at the statement and complimented, "Excellent."

"Then, I can end this charade?"

"Indeed, go ahead with retrieving the boy and the disposal of the Organization." The silver-haired man, Xemnas ordered.

"How I've waited to hear that." The blue-haired man with a significant scar of an X on his face smiled benevolently. Yet, he questioned, "Our target is only Diz?"

"Don't bother the small fries. Once Xehanort is over with, the Organization will become bodies without a head."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

As Axel and Roxas neared the organization's base, they knew something was wrong. There were unspoken words between them as they looked over far ahead, catching sight of black smoke rising up high above of where their place must have been.

"Shit!" Cursed Axel as he dragged Roxas to go faster and they rushed to the scene.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Okay, I guess you can tell who the antagonists will be?


	5. Ch 5 Difficulties Arise

It's been a while.

**Chapter 5 Difficulties Arise**

"Holy shit! What the fuck happened?" Axel cursed as his eyes swept over what was left of the organization's stronghold, taking in the sight of ashen smoke, which rose from the flames that had eaten away more than half of the building. Axel started yelling. "Demyx!"

Roxas was speechless; he didn't know what to think about any of it. Something had destroyed the organization, should he be happy? While he debated with himself, he saw something out of the corner of his eyes. Reflexively, he turned and moved slowly to see what it was that moved among the ruins.

Trapped between the mangled ruins of broken pillars were two people. With Axel's help, they managed to move the heavy debris away.

A blond Mohawk headed man was the first thing that poked out, along with the loud gasp of "Shit! What the heck happened?"

"I wanted to ask the same bloody question!" Axel returned.

Roxas wasn't surprised, assuming the guy was one of the organization's affiliates which he had yet to meet. But what caught Roxas off guard was someone in the custody of the Mohawked man.

It was a girl.

Questions formed in Roxas's head as the Mohawk man checked her, "Namine, you alright?"

"I'm okay, I think," the girl responded wearily, although she sure looked far from okay. When she lifted her gaze, she met Roxas's confused look with one of her own smiles. It was only then that Roxas was shaken from his stupor and offered to help her out of the mess.

"Thank you, Roxas," the girl in a white dress, tried to keep her smile in place.

"Er…yeah," Roxas replied, still confused.

"Oh, I'm Namine," She introduced. "I have heard about you. I wanted to meet you, at least once."

"Me?" The boy asked, pointing at himself, while the unanswered question in his head continued to grow. '_Why is there a girl here in this crazy place?'_ And a pretty one too, at that.

"Hey! Do you mind saving that for some other time!" Shouted the Mohawk guy who pulled himself out of the dirt hole and onto his feet. Once he gained his ground, he looked at the destruction around them. He wore a troubled expression and he whispered the next words with dread, "Any other survivors?"

The question kicked all of them into actions.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Almost an hour later, another three members of the organization were found. Roxas learned that man with elf-like ears with one eye patch, and a scar across his face was Xigbar. Another blond man with goatee beard and lots of ear piercing was Luxord. The two seemed older among them. And the slate-haired, emo looking guy who looked not much older than himself was Zexion. Then the talkative Mohawk guy was Demyx. Namine was Demyx's sister.

'_What a way to finally get to know them,_' Roxas mused at the oddity of never having met them in the passed few days. According to Axel…_'They used to sit in the gray area. But lately, the mission left them with the last strength only enough to crawl into bed, that's why.' _

Back to where they were now…

They didn't know exactly what had happened. While they were asleep, someone had detonated an explosion. Luckily, each of their respective rooms were equipped with robust steel. They were not excessively injured for the most part, but the other six members and their leader, Diz, had yet to be found.

Half of their base, including the data room, which had been the heart of their plan to complete their goal, was completely destroyed. That pretty much explained that the target of the incident wasn't to destroy the organization's members.

"It must have been the other six's plan. It's such a shame. The Organization used to be the rope that bound us together." Zexion said after falling into a long, pensive state. He removed his hand from his face, the gesture he used when he was thinking deeply.

"You think so? Axel and I have been thinking about that possibility!" Demyx exclaimed.

Xigbar and Luxord nodded in agreement and contributed with reasonings while Roxas's head started to sway back and forth, the other voices faded away. Namine, who had finished tending to everyone's wounds, settled herself next to Roxas. "How are you holding up, Roxas?"

The boy lifted his tired eyes to her, still feeling extremely weird with the whole situation. For a moment there, he had been beginning to accept the reality, then the next ordeal just have to break in.

_The organization was splitting? _

'_Then what now?'_ Roxas was choked up with the circumstance. _'Great, here I am, in a killing field and a splitting homicide nation. Now…will the ground just break open and swallow me whole?' _He felt sick, squinting his eyes shut, he tried to hold everything back in place.

"Are you all right?" The girl asked as she placed her hand on his slightly quaking shoulder.

Namine's contact comforted him to a point, and helped him gain some control over himself. Even though he assumed that she must have had something to do with the organization, there was still a feeling deep inside him that Namine was the only one who made any sense around the insane asylum these people called an 'organization'. "I…hope so," Roxas wheezed. "You?"

"Don't worry about me; I'm used to anything happening at any time. But for you…I understand that it must be difficult. You're very strong for holding up for this long."

Someone laughed.

Roxas's mind went blank as his blurry vision caught sight of the others glancing his way with the weirdest looks on their faces. It was only then that he realized he was the one laughing. He didn't know why, he wasn't anywhere near the situation to laugh. His laugh was dry...and empty.

_'I can't take this,' _That was his last thought before everything around him collapsed into darkness.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the same world, a person, once a part of the organization was reporting to his superior, "One thing here, two members seemed to be missing: no. 8 and no. 13, the new member."

"If there's one member that I'd less likely worry about, it's No. 8. he never dedicated seriously into anything. Once Diz is over with, he'll figuratively dissolve into nothingness. As for the newcomer, he apparently wishes not to have any part in all this, he'll only go astray."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

On the other side of Hollow Bastien:

"I can't help?"

"You'd kind of be in my way. Go to school, Riku."

There was a long pause before Riku gave in, "Okay. You win." Then he hung up on Leon. Riku leaned against the path rail and exhaled. Leon was right; he could do nothing much except freaking himself out on how Sora could be doing. On the tail of that thought, Kairi came to his mind. The girl seemed to need help too. '_If I can't help Sora, at least I can help Kairi with her problem.'_

So he showed up at school and brought the matter up, and he was dumbstruck when Kairi said, "Sora's going to be so happy about this!"

"Sora?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sora was better. Besides from the fact that Roxas wasn't there, and he was awfully far from home. But a few days of enough sleep, and socializing with people in Kairi's place made him feel like himself again.

The doorbell jingled by the time the café was closing, he looked up and saw Kairi's merry face as she darted into the store. That face must have come with good news. "Sora, your help is here! Meet Riku!" Kairi announced as she waved her hands toward a person behind her.

"Help?" Sora echoed blankly.

"Yes!" Unaware of Sora's expression, Kairi continued on, "Riku is a specialist…well…kind of anyway…he helps his police friend with Black Market's victims and in some cases, people from other worlds. He'll be able to help you for sure!"

"Kairi," Riku nudged the girl as if to warn her to keep it down. He should have told her about him knowing Sora and what had happened, but he didn't. Whether out of his pure disorientation as to how coincidence had Sora ended up in Kairi's place or his own fear of touching the subject where it would only lead to his misdoing. Whatever it was, he still needed to talk to Sora himself. His unsure green eyes swept over to Sora. Riku didn't really know what to say at first and Sora staring at him as if he'd seen a ghost wasn't helping.

Soon, Kairi started to sense the tense air between the two boys. She looked between them, before she opened her mouth to ask, Sora had sped to the back door.

"Sora, wait!" Riku shouted as he pursued Sora. Past the door, he saw Sora at the other end of the narrow passage, struggling to open the rear door that would lead him outside. Unfortunately, it was bolted shut. Riku called to him, "Sora."

The brunet obviously shuddered and whirled around to face Riku, his back flattening against the door. How history repeated itself.

Not liking the look on Sora's face, Riku knew he ought to explain. He took a small step forward, but that was more than enough for Sora to yell frantically.

"Don't come any closer!"

Riku stopped dead in his tracks.

That was when Kairi rushed in, her expression confused. "Guys! What's going on? What-?"

"Kairi! Are you aware of what you are doing to me!" Sora asked the confused girl with a pained look on his face.

The girl looked over to Sora who was distancing himself even further away from Riku, she noticed. "What? Sora? What's wrong? Riku's my best friend; he'll be able to help-"

"He's the very cause of my misery to begin with! He was the one who bought me…and…and-!" Sora blurted, but didn't finish.

"What?" Kairi repeated as she looked between a quiet Riku and half-scared, half-angry Sora.

"Tell me you didn't know about this, Kairi! I trust you!" Sora declared.

That stung Riku's core. _Sora trusted Kairi, but not him?_

Hoping to calm Sora down a bit, Kairi responded in her honesty, "I didn't know…what happened between you guys." She looked at Riku whose expression turned somewhat aggravated. "You were the one….who bought Sora?" Getting no answer, Kairi took a step closer to Sora instead. "Sora, there must be a mistake."

"No!" Sora rejected.

"Sora," Riku called again and closed the distance between them.

Kairi watched silently as Sora's posture deteriorated. The instant that Riku reached for Sora's arm, his cheek was dealt with Sora's fist. Kairi gasped, and darted in.

Riku couldn't careless about his wounded cheek but he did back away. The clear message was embedded into his very skin. Of what Sora would now do to get away from him. Back there, Sora had no strength to stand up against him, now it was different. Sora would fight him off this time.

But Riku didn't mean to hurt him, not now, not then, not ever.

"Don't touch me!" Sora demanded. When Kairi was between them, Sora even pleaded her, "Kairi, please get him away from me!"

Kairi gave Riku a meaningful look and it was enough for him to step back. With a fisted hand, Riku forced himself to leave the scene, he had to trust Kairi. The girl turned her attention back to Sora who was almost on his knees, she reached for his shoulder. Now she really wondered what Riku had done to send Sora into such a state of panic. "Sora, calm down. No one's going to hurt you. I don't know what's going on between you guys, but whatever Riku has done, it must have been a mistake. Riku's a bit of an asshole sometimes, but he never hurt anyone on purpose."

"He hurt me!" Sora wailed.

Kairi couldn't think of any possible ways that Riku could hurt someone. "What has he done to you?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Riku fidgeted with his hands as he kept glancing to the door where his two friends were behind. A part of him was so relieved to find Sora safe and sound, and even coincidentally this close to him…through Kairi. Another part of him couldn't help feeling worse at how Sora had reacted.

_Maybe things were bound not to be the same again._

Eventually, the door opened, and stepped out Kairi and Sora. It took a lot in Riku to hold himself plastered to the chair and waited for Kairi to bring Sora in. She must have talked him in. Sora half-heartedly settled himself down on the opposite seat from Riku, his eyes avoiding Riku's searching ones.

After a brief glance over to Riku, Kairi said, "Riku needs some ice, I'll be back."

When she rushed off, Sora was so startled that he almost followed her, Riku noticed. But the boy stood his ground, although it was written all over his face that he'd give anything to get out of there.

"Sora, look, I know my apologies can't help anything…" Riku began through a pain on his cheek.

Deaf to Riku's voice, Sora's expression turned to one of relief only when Kairi came back with a pack of ice. As much as Riku didn't really care about his wound and wanted to talk to Sora alone, he also knew that Sora wouldn't still be there sitting where he was if Kairi was away for too long. Sora trusted Kairi, that much he knew.

"Okay, guys. Let's not bring up bad matters and solve the issue at hands. Riku, I think you ought to tell Sora how you can help him."

Riku's assumption was that Sora hadn't told Kairi about his misdeed. Well, if he was in Sora's shoes, he would have done the same. There was also this hint in the girl's voice that Kairi was more empathized with Sora than with him, which was the right thing. The girl just had a knack for to side with the right side.

"What I can do to help him?" Riku was somewhat lost. _What were they expecting from him?_

Kairi frowned. "Sora told me you were the one who bought him. If that's the case, then at least, you should take some responsibilities. You know, to get Sora home and also find his brother."

'_Responsibility?' _That was right, it was the least he could do to redeem himself. _'To get Sora home…and what…?' _Riku processed the thought."…a brother?"

"Yes, Sora's brother, Roxas. They were separated on their way here," Kairi explained.

Riku felt like he'd been hit by a truck. "Sora's what?"

"Sora's twin brother, Roxas," Kairi repeated, frowning all the while at how unusually slow Riku was.

"Roxas is your brother?" Riku shot up and was almost taken aback when Sora finally returned his eye contact, but with a glower.

"So what?" the brunet bit.

Riku was speechless.

'_Roxas was Sora's brother. And I violated Sora out of jealousy from that false assumption. Could anything in the world be more twisted than this?' _"Fuck," cursed Riku.

That startled Kairi, Riku never cursed in front of her, unless it was really under dire circumstance. Maybe things were worse than she had imagined.

"I'll…see what I can do," Riku noted, blankly.

"Whatever," With his antagonistic stare, Sora took off.

Riku was about to pursue, but was stopped by Kairi's outstretched hand as she leaned over the table, urging him to sit back down. "Sora's not going anywhere far, so you better clear this up with me first." She waited as Riku watched as Sora disappeared through the same old rear door.

There was some mutual trust between Sora and Kairi. How it bit into Riku's skin. When they were kids, that kind of trust only existed between him and Sora.

"So…what have you done to him?" Right to the point, it was Kairi's style.

Riku swallowed. He couldn't even begin to imagine how Kairi would react, but a part of him believed that Kairi would understand, given that he had been drugged, he wasn't himself. Then another part of him, which, couldn't forgive himself, was yearning for some kind of punishment in any form.

"I raped him," Riku supplied.

A long silence ensued, as Riku had predicted. Then a laugh…Riku hadn't been expecting that.

"In times like these, I didn't know that you still could attempt to make jokes, Riku!" Kairi said, oblivious that her honesty was doubling Riku's guilt.

"It's not a joke, Kai," Riku murmured, causing Kairi to swallow her laughter.

"You're kidding."

"No."

"No, you didn't do that," Kairi disputed, her smile gone blank.

"I _did _it, Kai," Riku was short for his patient; he faced the girl's unbelieving look and couldn't hold back his frustration. "I fucking raped him because he was only crying for this Roxas! If only I knew…no, if only I recalled that Roxas is his brother then I wouldn't have…!"

"But…why?" Kairi asked, face betrayed nothing. "You always protect me…and everyone from those sickos, you hate them."

"Which is the very reason I'm hating myself right about now."

"How could you?" there was no condemnation in Kairi's voice, only pure shock. "Wait…you knew him before?"

"Yes."

"Has Sora ever done something to you?"

"No." Then Riku thought again, _'But he did everything to make me feel this way for him.'_ Riku made no more disclosure about his childhood past with Sora. It didn't matter; it wouldn't change the fact that he'd done something that wouldn't cost only Sora, but Kairi as well.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Sora?"

Said boy didn't shift from his crouched position in the corner of his given room. He asked without looking up, "Did he leave?"

"Yes," Kairi answered, her voice softer than ever, so was her face.

Noticing the change, Sora looked sideways. "You…knew?" When silence answered his question, he said, "You don't have to act different, Kairi. It already passed, I'm over it now. Just that…." Here, Sora fisted, barely restraining his anger. "…I can't stand him…"

"I know." Kairi learned that was why Sora was so scared when he almost fell victim himself trying to save her from those sickos. "I can't believe it. Riku…of all people." Kairi had told him off because she was pissed like never before. But when she thought about it, she still believed that it must have been a mistake. "Sora, I know you don't ever want to have anything to do with him again. But did you guys know each other before?'

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Somewhere in the far east of outskirt where no one dared to tread stood an old Shin-Ra building, half collapsed in ruins. Yet no one was aware of what laid beneath the place that appeared isolated…the underground lab.

"Specifically those two?" Asked the man in black.

"Yes, I should have those from the other world for my experiment. I'm not concerned whoever won the bid in Black Market over those two. I just need them as my subjects, whatever means possible." Answered the scientist, whose face was hidden under the dim light from the spot where he refused to move. But it didn't matter, both of them already knew who they were talking to.

"Right, so we had come to terms. We'll grab your subjects. In turn, we'll have our share of that Mako energy."

"Yes, yes. Great doing business with you, Organization XIII. Oh, not so 13 anymore."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx


	6. Ch 6 the New Light

It has been so long, 2 years and 7 months ago since last update? Been distracted with KHR, now I'm back to KH. Since I updated 'Saving', I've seen that not too many people were into KH now as they did years ago, maybe it's just my story? I'd still try to finish this story though, and surely will draw doujinshi for this story, since doujin is at least what I believe I do better than writing.

Please note I've made some major changes in the stories. My bad, when I re-read the whole thing and I couldn't recall all of which I was heading from the previous chapters, so I changed it around a little. You don't need to re-read the whole thing, I've summarized those points at the end note.

Anyone reading? Anyone at all?

Special Thanks: KrystalSara for beta-read.

**Chapter 6 The New Light**

It was almost midnight. In his given room, Sora sat on his makeshift bed with knees tucked to his chest in utter silence. He had been thinking things through for the past hour.

_Did he know Riku?_

His mind sprung up a 'no' and he didn't want to think about _that_perpetrator for a second, but Kairi had his head spinning with thoughts. Besides, Sora didn't know why his head kept playing the image of Riku. The picture of his pained face after that night, the remorse filled atmosphere around him, and his voice that sounded so crushed. Why those things should nagged him so? Sora hated him, angered him so.

When Sora thought about it, there was this weird feelings tugging at the back of his mind. After arriving at Hollow Bastion, a part of his memory seemed to be in a mess.

He drew his legs up, wrapping his arms around them and rested his chin on it. _'__If__he__did__know__me,__why__didn__'__t__he__say__something__about__it?__' _

"Urg," Sora groaned when realization hit him. "Why should I think about him at all!" Convinced at that resolution, he threw himself down the mattress and tried to escape into the slumber land.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the morning that followed, at Hollow Bastion's High School, Kairi found Riku alone in his classroom, sitting and staring off into space. She walked up to him and took the seat in front of him like usual.

"If you knew Sora, how come you never mentioned about him?" Kairi started without her eyes regarding him, her tone clipped.

Riku's eyes turned to gape at her for a while. Not answering her question, he instead stated, "I'm surprised you'd still talk to me."

Then it was Kairi's turn to gape at him, even longer than he did. The girl turned at him fully and said, "Look, Riku. What you did to Sora is wrong, yes. But I've known you for years. I've seen how many people you've saved, how you help Leon with his case even when it isn't your job at all, how many times you've protected me and Selphie, and just anyone in trouble. Your anger for those that attacked me days earlier is as clear." Kairi paused before she pressed the last sentence, "One mistake of yours will not end our friendship just like that. So don't go hating yourself just yet."

A slow smile spread across Riku's features, "I'm relieved." He leaned his face into his hand, elbow on the table. "I'd thought I'd lost both of my best friends."

"Geez, Riku. You're beating yourself over it. I don't remember yelling or cursing you yesterday." Kairi frowned. "Well, you're not losing me…and don't worry, things that happened will stay between us only." She stopped when the boy was looking at her with disbelief, but Kairi brushed it off. She noted that Riku was never this insecure and hard on himself. She immersed in thought before rounding back up to her question, "Well? Why had you never mentioned Sora before?"

At that, Riku turned his gaze back to the opened window, providing nothing but silence. "….."

"You like him?" Kairi tried again, and was surprised to see Riku's usual calm demeanor shifted. The boy eyed her momentarily and nodded then returned to look outside the window. She bent in a little closer, trying to get a look in his eyes. "You love him?'

Riku tore his gaze from the outside world to stare at her with his wide eyes. Seeing the girl was only waiting for an answer, he said with a firm tone in his voice, "Yes."

"Wow," Kairi exclaimed and backed away from leaning, "Never knew you like boys. No wonder you say 'no' to all those girls…wait, I think there are guys after you too and you didn't-"

"Kairi," Riku interjected before she could go too far, "I don't like boys, or girls…I just like Sora."

There was a short span of silence before Riku noticed the look on Kairi's face as if something was dawning on her.

"I think I know now." When Riku quirked an eyebrow at her, she dared, "You wanted to keep Sora all to yourself. You even made it literal by not sharing things about him with anyone, right?"

A dangerous glint ran across Riku's eyes but Kairi was unfazed. At that, Riku closed his eyes, sighed, and slumped back into his chair; a faint smile found his features. "When it comes to this, you really know how my mind works, Kai."

"So you admitted," Kairi grinned a little, and had to remarked, "Wow, Riku. Normally, people wouldn't shut up when they talk about their crush. You're the complete opposite."

Riku shrugged nonchalantly, wearing a same faint smile.

"So…" Kairi trailed off with unsure air about her, fidgeting and looked at her friend in cautious way. "I'm sorry to bring this up. But you…you _did_him because you feel for him that much, right?"

Riku was stunned by his friend's bluntness. He was almost mad with Kairi touching the topic, had it not been dawning on him that she only needed to know. Now that Sora was staying with her, instead of with him, which made him as frustrated as he could get, it was still better than any other unknown hands.

Kairi's heart was where it belonged. Yesterday, it was obvious to him that Sora was way better off with her than with him. He had to accept that, as much as it hurts. With Sora as Kairi's savior, she'd do anything she could to help Sora back as well.

"I was…not myself…and so was Sora. Both of us were drugged," Riku said, finding words were somewhat difficult to speak.

"You and Sora were drugged?" Kairi echoed with bewildered look on her face. She pounded her hands against the table, "When were you planning to tell me about this, Riku?"

"Like, right about now?" Riku said, not following Kairi's edginess.

"You lost yourself because of the drugs! Drugs altered mood, right? Drugs are to be blamed!" Kairi pressed.

Underneath her tone Riku had caught something akin to hope, which was when he got it. "I want to believe so. Leon had my blood test and the result said so…"

"That's it! If we told Sora that it's the drugs-"

"Don't tell Sora," Riku cut her off.

"Huh? Why not?" Kairi frowned, her earlier slight excitement gone.

Riku's eyes dropped lower. "It won't change the fact that I hurt him, a side effect of the drugs or not." He lifted his gaze to meet Kairi's. "So don't…Please, Kai."

Kairi's frown dropped into saddened expression, "Oh, Riku."

"And…drugs aside, I was…blinded by jealousy. Obsessive…I admit." Riku buried his face in his hands. "Though I never meant to hurt him, Kai. I really didn't."

"I believe you." Kairi reached out across Riku's table to run her hand over Riku's hair in comforting gesture. "And I believe it was the drugs that made you…do it. I had a feeling that you went through so much more than I know to save Sora from the Black Market, which is all the more reason for me to help you fix this."

"Fix this?" Riku asked, lifting his head from his hand.

"Yes, you and Sora, your childhood best friend who developed into your crush, right? I don't know what I can do, but I'll try, so don't take it too hard on yourself." Seeing the boy's lack of response, she ventured, "Don't tell me you're giving him up, Riku?"

"No way in hell!" Riku blurted, only to realize his action and backed down, doing his best to collect himself. Riku forced a smile, although inside he wasn't sure if things between him and Sora would ever work out. Still, he'd like to die trying.

Kairi was taken aback, then she let out a laugh. Never had she ever seen Riku lost his cool over someone like that. A week ago Riku was still a cocky, arrogant guy, albeit the self righteousness he stood for. Now Kairi realized how a one mistake with Sora could rid Riku of all those bad attitudes that he had for years.

Prior to this, when Riku had his rare, common mistake, he'd easily fixed it and played it off coolly like it was no big deal. Now Kairi noticed all the difference it made to Riku, even in the way he stood, sat, and walked. _'__Sora__must__be__that__affecting__to__him.__'_

Riku was truly sorry. It was more than enough for her to hold onto their friendship despite what Riku had done.

….

The school bell rang, marking the end of the day to the students. Kairi had asked Riku to come to the café to explain things to Sora again, but Riku had other plans. "I'll go see Leon…see what I can do to find Sora's brother. That's what Sora wants after all. It's the only way I can atone him." _'__And__…__my__presence__would__only__hurt__him.__'_

"Oh, all right," Kairi murmured, sure felt for Riku. "Well, I'll talk to him myself then."

"Take care of him, please, Kai." Riku requested.

Kairi blinked at the rare use of the word _'__please__'_ coming from Riku, all the more reason for her to accept it. "Of course."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Found him?" the police asked as he put his pen down on the table that housed countless papers and documents. He beckoned for Riku to sit on the chair across his table.

He was lucky that Leon was in office today. On normal occasion, the man always had his hands full with works, yet he always managed time for Riku. Riku took the seat while nodding. "Yeah…safe and sound; turned out that he's been with Kairi since he ran away from me."

"You don't look very happy, considering how worried you had been since he was lost;" Leon pointed the obvious and noticed, "What happened to your cheek?"

Riku's shoulder sacked as his hand lingered on his plastered cheek. "Apparently he's still angry at me, this is his handiwork."

"I see," Leon responded and decided not to further question unless the other brought it up himself, which surprisingly, Riku did.

After glancing about, making sure no one was nearby Leon's office, Riku started, "Leon…there's this thing…I want to ask about the drugs that was in my body…I need to be sure," Riku trailed off, fisting over Leon's work table as his glance lowered to it. "Keep this between us…please."

Taking on how sullen Riku had become with the inner battle in those troubled aquamarine orbs, Leon reassured, "I will."

It took Riku minutes to finally confess to Leon what exactly had he _done_to Sora. And another half a minute for Leon's bewildered expression to dissolve away and instead started asking Riku questions which led to Riku's confession of his feelings towards Sora. To Riku's surprised, Leon's response towards him was pretty much the same as Kairi's, though Leon was much calmer.

"And what you want to ask me is _'__Was__your__misdeed__the__drugs__' __doing?__'_ is that right?" Leon presumed.

Riku nodded, his head hung low, bangs falling over his guilt stricken face. He'd never been so ashamed in his entire life. It felt bad…so damn bad to bring up that memory. Leon and Kairi were the only ones he'd admit it to, given that they'd need to know, yet they didn't condemn him as he had expected.

"It's hard to say. I don't know much about this Sora, let alone your relationship with him. Yet I know how drugs in Black Market mess with people's brains, feelings, and emotions, even memories." Leon laced his hands together and pointed at the boy. "You realized you've forgotten something in that amount of time too, right?"

"…that Roxas is Sora's brother, yes." Riku nodded weakly. _'The__stupidest__thing__ever__forgotten.'_

"Hmm, I'm sure I've known you long and well enough to know what kind of a person you are. So if you asked me, personally and theoretically, I'd say it's the drug's side effect." Leon watched as the boy slowly raised his head up. There was a mixture of emotion in those eyes; a hint of relief, but mostly guilt. Leon knew he needed not say more, Riku was beating himself up maybe way too far.

Leon pushed himself up, walked over to Riku and placed one hand on that slacked shoulder, "It's okay to feel guilty, Riku. I'm not surprised when it comes to your conscience. But don't dwell on it too much. You're just as human like the rest of us that can make terrible mistake. I'm sure you can still set things right." Leon consoled, feeling he'd gone a bit out of his usual behavior. But he felt for Riku. He noted how Riku had changed this much with his attitude. Sora must have meant more than anything to Riku, that much Leon knew that the most important person could change someone.

Riku didn't respond much, not sure if he'd feel any better, at least there was a little relief. He nodded, accepting it and yet his determination grew. "Talking about making it right…I'll have to find this Roxas. Both of them were kidnapped from D.I. Leon, Please help me find him for Sora."

"Of course, Riku."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Everything was a blur. It unnerved him…the way things were unclear to him. It was just disturbing in more ways than one.

He found himself somewhere in the middle of grayness…not dark or light. _Where__was__he?_

Sounds of chains and a shuffling of dragged feet filled the empty air. Roxas tensed, turned around in time to become aware of something huge, falling almost on him had he not jerked backward in alarm. When the thing fell, Roxas saw it was human, blood leaking out everywhere around them. The man that he'd killed. He'd felt a sudden weight in his hands. Looking down, the swords were there…and the blood.

He shouted out of fright and ran.

The grayness surrounding him began to take shape and formed into the images of his memory. He saw himself in his parents' funeral. While Sora was crying his heart out until his blue eyes swollen red, Roxas couldn't remember himself crying. Deep down inside of him, his being was half past dead with his own notion that their parents had died because of him despite everyone saying it was an accident.

He never knew he was in denial of the truth that was right in front of his eyes. Days and days of his sullen depression drove him farther on the edge; the darkness closing in on him. He would have let it engulf him with all entireties, allowing himself to pass that border between the world of sanity and what was not had Sora's voice not reached him.

Sora's voice had cut through the darkness around him.

Despite how he had been treating his younger brother for years, Sora still stood by his side. Even more so when Roxas blamed himself for the death of their parents, and Sora knowing how their parents died, never blamed him for it. Sora had cried days and days but stood strong when Roxas failed to do so. Sora was _there_ and unbeknownst to Sora himself, given him what he needed the most…

A second chance.

That was when he swore to look after his brother despite the one sided dislike he felt for his only sibling prior to their parents' death. It was then that they knew they'd be lost without each other. Incomplete, Roxas believed. The death of their parents only had him realize this.

Sora…had been the only thing that kept his sanity together. With each other's presence, they'd pull each other through.

Then he found himself in the sea of darkness. The only sound that filled the air was crying. There were so many of them: men, women, children, all of which their cries were getting on his nerve, save for one that he'd distinguished from all the others. He followed the voice until he came upon a bunch of crouching mess in which he believed was the source of all cries. He felt as if his head was going to explode with it. Yet he stood his ground and kept on searching until his eyes settled upon a brunet boy in fetal position. Without hesitation, he weaved his through a bunch of woes and reached for the brunet's shaking shoulder.

"Sora, what's wrong?" he asked, voiced laced with concern. Never in years since their parents' death, and that _one_ certain circumstance, had he seen his brother cried like this.

The brunet turned, blue eyes wide in realization before he lifted his hand to reach for the person standing in front of him, "Roxas…"

Roxas mirrored his brother, but just as he did so, Sora drew back. Roxas eyes widened as he saw a pair of dark hands and tendrils slithered from the ground and wrapping around his brother, pulling him down into swirling oval shape of darkness. The last image was his brother's sad smile as if he'd resigned to his fate.

'_No way, Sora would never…' _

Roxas had already reached for Sora yet the oval shape of darkness that Sora sunk into had closed up. He banged his fist, tried to dig his way into it only to find it futile. Around him, the others were still there, woe-ing their hearts out.

When Roxas had to look around and wandered about that fact, he started, "Why? Why, Sora but nobody else?" Once he said that aloud, all suddenly turned to him. They started dragging and crawling themselves up to him with tears in their eyes and plead in their woeful voice. "Roxas, help us."

"Get lost! I don't give a fuck about anyone but Sora!" He shook them off, even kicked some of them off with uncaring light. Then he was on his knees to the spot where he remembered Sora disappeared into. Disregarding the others, he scraped his hands against the spot again, desperate to get his brother back. "Give him back!"

Suddenly the dark ground break opened again in an oval shape. Roxas gasped, yet he didn't hesitate to jump…

Only to be caught by the wrist that broke his jump. Roxas let out a curse and whipped his head to see what it was that stopped him. His eyes looked up and saw…a figure of a lanky man in black coat with his hood on, his hand fastened on one of Roxas's own.

"Dammit, let go!" He demanded, flailing about. While at it, his other hand reached into the abyss of darkness. "Sora!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Sora!" he shot up. The sound of heavy breathing and fast heartbeat drummed in his ears. Sweat dripped down his drenched forehead and his hands shook. His blue eyes looked around, finding himself in some kind of room. Everything was a blur. But one thing that stood out was…

'_Red?'_

It took Roxas a moment to blink away the blurriness and made out what was in front of him.

"…A…Ax….Axel?"

The man in front of him was still. Jade green eyes looked back at him with concerned expression that Roxas didn't remember the guy having one or being capable of. Then everything came back to him, the kidnapping, the Organization. The splitting, the laugh. _'__Great,__waking__from__one__nightmare__just__to__find__myself__still__in__another__one.__' _

"Hey, you all right, kid?" Axel started, his voice surprisingly soft.

Roxas looked around again, barely made out a room they were in. he was occupying a bed, Axel was sitting in a chair and for the first time since they'd met, he wasn't in the Organization attire, but a casual clothes.

Outside the window, it was noon.

'_Has__this__guy__been__keeping__vigil__over__me__being__sick?__' _His head suddenly hurts and he complained, "Shit, why's everything so blurry?" out the corner of his eyes, he saw Axel's concerned expression doubled. _Was__that__even__possible?_

"That's because…Roxas," the other said as he lifted one hand up to brush his knuckle against Roxas's cheek, "You're crying."

Blue eyes widened. He lifted his hand to his face and felt tears on his cheeks. He shoved his back to Axel and got rid of his tears by wiping his sleeves against it. Once done, he took a deep breath but didn't turn back to face Axel. He couldn't, so he remained silence, not knowing how to react until…

"Hey, I can pretend I didn't see that," Came the offer, which surprised both of them when it made Roxas slowly turned to the redhead.

Green eyes blinked as the blue ones just stared at him with the expression Axel never have saw prior to this. Then again, he _had__not_ expected at all that this kid who seemed to possess that daredevil attitude and managed to hold up for that long would suddenly have a hysterical outburst of laughter, followed by a nervous breakdown and even…cried.

Well…unlike him…the boy seemed to have a heart after all.

"Umm…" Roxas shifted, breaking his contact and casting them on the blanket. "How long had I been out?"

"Three days," Axel supplied.

"That long!" Roxas asked, startled.

Axel nodded, "You went into some kind of coma. No fever and all, which is weird. We thought you might not make it. But here you are…alive again."

"Oh…" Roxas realized and asked, "So what happened after…that? Where are the others?" He looked around again for the third time. "And where are we?"

"With our stronghold shot to hell and our leader missing, we're kind of in the middle of figuring things out." Axel shrugged, nonchalant. "While we're a little lost without, you know, our leader, it's not us to just let it end like this. Zexion, Xigbar, Luxord and Demyx are investigating while they entrusted me the babysitting job." Axel snickered when Roxas made a face. "Dem and Namine still dropped by sometimes. As to our whereabouts, this is my house…well, my bro and I's, to be exact. But he's not home much since he works in town. We're still in the outskirt. But this place is a lot closer to town compared to the Organization's place."

"I see…" Roxas accepted, yet asked, "So…what now?

There was a moment of silence where Axel fell into quite a long, pensive state, looked at Roxas with calculative eyes to which the blond raised his eyebrows, before he spoke, "What now is you need rest. But no more in bed, you've been napping enough." Green eyes darted up, as if thinking, then glanced back to the blond "Are you hungry?" When Roxas shook his head, Axel added, "Still need to eat though before ulcer eats you!"

Axel then got up and sauntered to the wardrobe. He pulled out an article of clothes and put everything needed in the adjacent washroom.

Meanwhile, Roxas out of bed, feeling light-headed when he stood up. Axel was by his side in an instant, catching his arms. Roxas was surprised that he didn't mind the redhead's contact as he was supposed to. _'__Urg,__I__must__be__really__weak.__' _Not capable of arguing right now, he allowed the redhead to help him walk to the washroom.

"I'm okay now…I guess," Roxas confirmed, half implying that Axel just need to leave the washroom, not just standing there and looking at him!

"You sure, kid?"

There was something in that voice that rendered Roxas unable to even muster a glare. _Why__had__Axel__been__more__like__a__human__now?_

_Was it because of the tears?_

Roxas tried to rid of that thought and nodded to the redhead. "Yeah. Now leave already." Another surprise to how his demand was simply a saying that failed to sound cold as it should.

"Call me if you need anything. Oh, and don't try to escape. I'll know," Axel said in cryptic tone before walking out, closing the washroom door behind him.

Roxas exhaled, not that he was in a state for escape attempt anyway. He stilled, caught sight of himself in the mirror above the sink, realizing just what might have had brought about that attitude of Axel was because…"I look like shit." He was emaciated and too pale, Zombie-like, if he had to word it.

'_Maybe__because__of__this__…__everything__…__and__the__nightmares__…' _Recalling the nightmare that was still fresh, his mind reeled. It had felt so real. The dark hands…and Sora. Roxas's throat felt constricted, but soon beat the negative feelings down. He couldn't afford to keel over again, losing days that he'd better expend looking for his brother.

He was well aware of how he felt lost without Sora and it goes without saying that the other twin must have been likewise. He needed to find Sora fast. Now that the Organization seemed to be put to halt, he might have a bigger chance.

Holding onto that determination, he turned to the task at hand, showering. Starting to undo his clothes, he realized he was in a slightly oversized shirt and pants. _'__Who__the__heck__changed__me!__'__..._he rolled his eyes. '_Who__else__could__it__be?__'_

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Drying his hair with a given towel, Roxas came out of the bathroom. He took sometime to study the room. _This__was__Axel__'__s__room?_The structure was comprised of brown wood, complete opposite to the Organization's stronghold which held more of a steely texture. Aside from necessities, there were few other items consist of mostly Frisbees and Keffiyeh. And….few books and papers about…Roxas observed closer…"Shinra Conspiracy," "Black Market Conspiracry" and books about weaponry. Upon those, Roxas felt sick and had to turn away.

Drawing back from all of those, he headed to the door. As soon as he pulled it opened, a yell and a loud clanking sound greeted him. Utensils, he assumed. Roxas sauntered across the narrow passage, taking in another room on the second floor, aside from one he had occupied earlier. _'__Axel__'__s__brother__'__s,__' _he guessed. _'__So__Axel__has__a__brother__too-__' _

The house's interior overall was comprised of woods, just like Axel's room. Normal enough, homely even. Roxas couldn't help breathing in the scent of wood a bit. It smelled like the one he and Sora lived in Destiny Island. Roxas lost his line of thought as more clanking sounds came along with strings of he was down the stairs, he turned, head passed the living room and went straight to the source of the noises…and cloud of smoke.

Once stepping into the area of a small kitchen, Roxas cringed at the sight of what reminded him of a war zone. Well, kitchen war zone. The area was covered in a total mess of what seemed to be meat, rice, flour and whatnot. In the middle of it all was a back of a flustered redhead trying to steady a frying pan while stuggling with the smoke erupting from it. And with a flick of his wrist, the content in the pan flew in the air to land gracefully on the dish sitting next to the stove. The motion would have been labeled so aesthetic had it not come down to all the burnt contents of food towering in the plate.

Roxas made a face. What Axel was trying to cook was beyond him. He announced his presence, "I'm so not going to eat that."

The redhead turned with bewildered look which transformed into a sheepish grin that surprised the younger of the two. With that look on his face and without the Organization's attire, Axel looked so…normal…for the lack of better words.

…

Twenty minutes later found them in the living room with a plate of decent hotcakes that seemed deliciously eatable compared to Axel's (which ended up in the very bottom of a garbage bin).

"Wow, Roxas, didn't know you could cook so well," Axel complimented.

"Didn't know you could cook so disastrously," Roxas returned with a flat face while having a bite. "Seriously, I'm surprised you haven't burned yourself or blow up the kitchen. Lucky you that the stove's electronic, not gas."

True enough, they had to immigrate to the living room since the kitchen now was off limit.

"Ouch! That's not cool, Roxas. I tried! I even tried porridge and soup first off since they're more suitable for your condition, but failed. So I guessed hot cakes the last thing I might be able to pull of…which I couldn't." Axel's head dropped slightly after a quick defense. Then lifted back up, looking away, "Sheesh, even hotcake isn't really suitable for your condition. Sorry for not being able to cook. Grr, I should have conveniently bought some instant. But knowing that it's not good for health, and Namine will drop by sometimes and she could cook good food for you-"

Axel's ramble left Roxas in the state of complete dumbstruck that he had to stop eating and gawked at the redhead. How Axel had unexpectedly reminded him of Sora, who couldn't cook and yet tried when it came the time Roxas was sick. How they defended themselves and apologized. And of all the things Axel would cook, it had to be hotcake which was Roxas and Sora's favorite when they were eating together.

_Why__was__Axel__being__so__ki-__no,_Roxas stomped it down. _'__Kind__' __wouldn__'__t__do,_he wouldn't forget how moron Axel had been on the days prior. Still, Axel was a little different. _Why__was__he__even__…__tried__to__cook__food__for__him?__Why__apologize__for__this__when__there__was__bigger__thing__he__should__consider__more__on__apologizing?__What__brought__about__this__attitude?_

_Does__the__Organization__or__Axel__still__need__him__for__something?_ But none of it would explain why the redhead had to act this way towards him when he had never been _this_easy on him before. This was like Axel in the new light.

"Roxas…"

Said Roxas blinked out of stupor when a hand waving in front of his vision. He looked questioningly at the owner of the hand. "Wha-?"

"For a moment there, I thought you'd gone again," Axel said and jabbed the finger to his head. "You know, up on your own and somewhere in there. Keep thinking to yourself and that little head of yours might explode. Why not let it out? Whatever is going on in there," Axel suggested, gaining a glare by his choice of words, which he joked, "Oh~first glare in three days. Now that you're good enough to glare, I hope you can walk a few miles too?"

Stabbing Axel with a fork seemed tempting, yet Roxas decided against it. At that moment, he'd like to stay away from the sight of blood and gore. Thus, he complied, "Walk…where?"

"Finish eating and I'll tell you," the other grinned.

Roxas could only narrow his eyes and went back to eating which Axel joined after.

"Hmm, delicious. Mind telling me how you'd cook so well?" Axel started. His query was left unanswered for a short moment…before the younger one decided to talk.

"I'm an older brother to a boy who'd cook and end up in disaster like you, that's why." Eyes still casting on the table, not looking at the other, Roxas said. A smile etched on his face, unbeknownst to himself but not overlooked by the other.

"No…parents?" Axel took a wild guess, after having quite some background about the boy from Diz.

The blond shook his head. "Died in accident." His heart clenched. He did learn to move on but he had been able to do so, he believed, only because Sora was with him. Now…he managed to make it day by day, hanging on to thin thread of hope that he'd find Sora again.

A hand placed on the blond head, making Roxas jerked up. He met the concern look in the jaded eyes, which again left him weird feelings in his guts. As much as he wanted to bat that hand away, he was puzzled by his lack of reaction.

"I guess we have something in common then," Axel said, smiling the smile that wasn't a Cheshire grin or any of those sorts that usually prick Roxas's nerve. "My parents died in accident, leaving me and my bigger bro behind too. But due to their work prior to their deaths, we weren't particularly close to them to begin with. So we moved on just as easy."

Roxas "hmph"-ed at that, not knowing what else to say. When Axel drew back his hand, Roxas felt the strange, cold emptiness at the loss of contact, which he made a mental chide to himself.

"Oh, that reminds me. So I guess I can get away with my bad cooking skill or the lack thereof, because I'm a younger bro." Axel laughed, his casual demeanor returned.

Roxas put a fork down, after had had enough of eating, "Is that the reason why you came along when I wanted to find my brother back there? You know…how it feels?" Roxas was all now curious.

Axel cracked a leering smile at that, "Well, you got it half right. I'm sure me and my bro aren't that attached. We barely meet. Both of our jobs undertake fraught with danger and we don't worry much about each other. Perhaps we both know we're not helpless without each other. So I can't really compare us to you brothers and completely understand how you feel."

"Sora is _not_helpless, and neither am I," Roxas bit out with defensive air.

"There you go." Axel leaned his chin in one hand, elbowed against the table, another hand pointing at Roxas. "You brothers are sappy. You rather protect and defend for each other, unlike me and my bro who'd kick one another in the back just to have a good laugh." Axel laughed along, earning himself another glare.

"We're not sappy," the boy bit out, his voice took on an edge.

Axel scratched the back of his head, "Whatever you say, kid."

"Stop calling me a kid already!" Roxas growled. He had had enough of that!

"Okay, okay! Sheesh~ anything else?" Axel mocked submission with his palms lifted up.

Roxas perked at that line. Even if Axel had meant it sarcasm, he still talked his thought out loud, "Yes, I'll go look for my brother."

"Okay, got that too-What!"

"When I asked _'__what__now__'_ you said I need rest, right? That means I can take a few more days off without the Organization's job which I believe is on hiatus anyway. Look, I only need to know that he's safe. I'm going to find him and you can't stop me," Roxas said with an absolute air about it, standing up with hands pressed on the table.

"Okay." Axel leaned back in his chair. Getting a disbelieving look the younger boy was giving him, he added. "Do whatever you want until we need you. Just don't forget…" He reached for his pocket and from it, lifted an object to Roxas's sight; a small remote controller. "Lucky I found this among the mess, thought it might come in handy."

The way Axel grin and wagged that object from side to side made Roxas wanted to smash the plate and use the sharp edge of it against Axel. Yet he had to beat it down, again. _'__Urg,__maybe__I__have__too__many__violent__bones__in__my__body.__' _

"Anyway, I'm coming with you." Axel pushed himself up while gathering the finished plates. He caught an annoyed look from the blond, "Have you not memorized yet? I'm your babysitter."

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This time, Roxas took it on good terms with Axel leading him into town since last time he couldn't find Sora on the outskirt.

"Isn't there a police station?" Roxas asked, looking over his shoulder where Axel walked a bit behind him. The taller man had his hood up, wearing sunglass.

Roxas as well, had his hood up but refused to wear the damn sunglass. Axel had claimed their identities should be hidden in absolute secrecy. At least he was thankful that they weren't in Organization's attire. That would have made them even more suspicious.

As of now, Axel seemed jittery, so unlike himself that Roxas had to think, _'__If__he__'__d__be__that__restless,__why__didn__'__t__he__just__stay__home?__' _

After scanning around enough, Axel caught up to Roxas with his long strides to answer, "There's one. Although I'm sure they aren't of much help since in H.B., they always have their hands full with every crime this world could come up with. Except…if you knew who exactly to talk to, you might stand a chance."

"I'll take that chance anyway."

Fifteen minutes later found them at the police station. Axel remained outside, claiming again about his supposedly hidden identity. Before leaving Roxas to himself, he provided, "Two things, Roxas. One, you don't tell them you're kidnapped from other worlds. Most of them won't believe you since so many people here hit that false report just to get themselves outta here. Two, if you give away my identity, you'll regret sorely with my hands over the remote controller, "Axel tapped his pocket pant to emphasize the point, causing the knot to Roxas's eyebrow. "So the only thing you can do is to report your missing brother. No giving them away my house address or phone numbers, not that you know of them. You can give them e-mail-"

"E-mail?" Roxas interjected with confused expression.

Axel followed, "You don't know what e-mail is?"

"Heard of, but never used one," Roxas gave a few shakes of head.

Which made Axel wondered, _'__he__knows__how__to__crack__passcode__but__doesn__'__t__know__e-mail?__' _the redhead found himself rubbed the back of his head again. _'__Well,__can__'__t__blame__the__kid.__D.I__'__s__is__far__from__advanced__technology.__' _"Just give them any name, like Roxas_, we can create an account later on."

"Got it," Roxas turned and walked up the stairs while making a face at Axel's taunting him not knowing what an e-mail was, so he walked right into someone who was running down the stairs and not looking as well.

"Gyah!" the girl's voice rang as Roxas crashed with the smaller body. Both of them managed to remain standing in spite of the bump.

"Sorry! I wasn't looking!" He apologized the girl with short black hair.

"Me too. You all right?" Roxas returned then he heard a yell from somewhere behind.

"Yuffie! Hurry up!"

The young lady perked at the voice calling her. She answered "Coming, Squall!" Then she quickly turned to Roxas, "Gotta go!" and ran off.

Roxas watched her catch up to the man who was in a car. _'__Are__they__plainclothes__polices?__Seems__rushing.__' _Once they dove off, he returned to his track, ignoring Axel's snicker floating over.

Eight minutes later Axel saw Roxas walked back out. The look on his face gave away the answer, but he asked anyway, "So?"

"Can't believe they always have bunch of missing cases at hands that they wouldn't pay much attention to mine. They just took the name and appearances to go with. I don't think they'd care!" Roxas grouched in frustration.

"Well, what do you expect when they already got their hands full. Police are just never enough here," Axel explained, reckoning the blond might still not get it since he came from D.I. where the service must have been a complete different.

"Screw them, I'll look for Sora on my own," With that Roxas stomped off.

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The more the sky turned darker with every passing minute, the more aggravated Roxas had become.

"Arg! Dammit!" Roxas cursed, punching and kicking one the poor tree standing next to him. "We've been looking everywhere!"

"Well, there are _these_ structures and interiors that we couldn't reach." Axel drawled, curling his fingers in quotation form. "Who knows if your brother might be in one of those high floor mansion or even have a part time job in a flat café."

Roxas shot Axel an annoyed glare. He wasn't up for any kinds of jokes! Still, true enough…H.B. was much bigger than D.I., with more buildings and structures. So far he'd looked most into the Marketplace and Borough which were the town's center. Surely, he couldn't expect Sora to be running around in public place for him to see, right? Sora could be anywhere, sheltering himself from this kind of world.

Axel could only scratch the back of his head while watching the younger boy hunched over, cursed a few more lines, beating himself up a bit…and finally slumped against the tree before his body crumpled to the tree trunk in silence. After a few blink of surprise, Axel rushed in. he knelt beside the small frame and scooped the boy back up to turn him over. He'd anticipated the boy blacking out, but was surprised to see the vacant blue eyes gazing up at him,

"Roxas?" he called , removing the sunglass to observe the boy in his lap clearer.

Empty blue eyes slid closed halfway before they regarded Axel after they seemed like looking right passed him earlier.

"Sheesh, you just beat yourself up until you drained yourself." A dry smile formed on Axel's lips, finding the whole scenario amusing with the young boy raging a moment ago, and collapsed in the next.

"I can't…lose him too," Roxas slurred, eyes drifting solemnly…fighting back tears.

Axel had never been one to sympathize much, save for a few people he'd come to know. But never to some brat he'd just met for a week. Yet this side of Roxas was bothering him, enough to make him do things he never did before.

"Let's head back before you get sick again," Axel suggested as he slid one hand on Roxas's back, the other behind Roxas's knees.

Despite his condition, Roxas was aware to what was coming. He quickly rolled to the side and ended up faced down on the ground with an "Urg!"

Blinking again, Axel just stared at another antic, his arms still outstretched for the failed purpose. He watched the other wobbly got up on his own, dusting himself off a bit. The young boy caught him staring and made a quick turn away.

"I can walk myself," Roxas muttered, dragging himself off.

'_Was__that__a__blush__I__see?__' _mused Axel, which further served his interest and amusement for the boy. _'__He__was__raging__one__minute,__collapsing__the__next,__and__regained__himself__after__' _Axel had to hold back his impression. _'__There__is__a__great__pride__running__through__that__small__body.__' _

The redhead righted himself and caught up to the smaller boy. Looking at Roxas, there were no more hint of anger, only solemnity and distraction with drooped shoulders and constant sigh. _'__Guess,__he__'__d__vented__everything__out__on__that__tree.__' _"Hey, I'd suggest we go back rest. But since you are still well to walk like that, let's not forget about our hang out."

Paused in his stride, Roxas looked up at the other in bafflement. "Hang out?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Up on the high construction of the clock tower, Axel and roxas sat on the parapet edge, feet dangling against the vertical wall. The huge hands of the clock were still, having been death and abandoned for far too long. From where they sat, they could over look the town of Hollow Bastien. The sky ahead of them was a mixed of purple and orange with dusk.

"Not the ideal sight to see for this rundown town, but this's the highest we can come to look at the sunset," Axel drawled, pulling his hood off since nobody would see them at this height. Getting no response from the blond, he studied the boy who idly slouched next to him.

'_For__a__little__devil__who__just__threw__a__tantrum__back__there,__he__sure__now__is__ironically__melancholic,__' _Axel sat himself right next to the boy, with one knee propping up. "Don't go ahead and faint now, you'd fall." He didn't even earn a snap at that, which compelled him to comment, "Humm, after that rashness attitude, now turning into a zombie?" With that, he did stir a little response when Roxas's eyes slanted a look at him, though it didn't last long.

Roxas went back to look at the horizon with an empty sigh.

"Well, let's see if this'll make you feel better." Axel reached for the small bag he'd been carrying for a while and out from it were a small block of ice in light blue color. He held one up to Roxas face who gave a blink at the proffered treat. "Here ya go, the icing on the cake, meaning I ought to treat you something since you joined the Organization. A little too late, but better than never, eh?"

For a moment there, Axel swore Roxas had a look of _am-I-in-the-mood-to-be-eating-icescream?_ on his face. Only shortly after did Roxas accept the treat, having been suffering from dehydration…and Axel's persistence.

Roxas languidly took a bite, he frowned then seconds later, had to blink in surprise. A chuckle came floating from his right. "Taste funny on first bite, yeah? But soon you find it delectable." Seeing the blond head bobbed up and down then continued eating made a smile spread on Axel's face. "It's Sea-Salt ice cream, originated from Twilight Town."

"Twilight Town?" Roxas asked, now looking at Axel.

Hearing the curiosity in Roxas voice, Axel smiled. "Yep. Heard the place is ideal. You been there? Come to think of it, it's close to Destiny Island too."

Blond head nodded. "Yeah, only for a few days though." Roxas recalled the days Hayner, Pence, Olette, his friends who were the exchanged students from Twilight Town, took him and Sora on vacation there. Roxas had wanted to stay there even, but Sora liked Destiny Island, and the only financial support they had was in D.I.

Axel noted if Roxas sank into another zombie mode, doubtless thinking about his life back there, but looked calm enough, he believed it should be the time he reminded him again. "Look, Roxas, about your brother…have you forgotten what Diz had told you?"

Roxas stirred at the subject. He had had enough anger for the day which still solved nothing so far. Better try relying on logics and reasons instead. Now that he was calm enough, he actually recalled, "That Sora was in a safe hand?"

Axel nodded. "Too bad I don't have info on which hand Diz was referring to. But Diz's information had always been accurate. I have high faith in him."

Blue eyes narrowed at that. "Surely you can't expect me to have faith in that old geez as well?"

Laughing at the nickname Roxas called his superior, Axel shook his head. The boy's words still had bites, zombie mode or not. "No, but you said so yourself that Sora is not helpless. Therefore, have some faith in him. He'll be able t pull through and so are you."

Roxas had the utmost baffled expression when regarding Axel, but returned to his ice-cream thoughtfully.

'_Have__a__little__faith__in__me,__Roxas.__It__'__ll__be__okay.__' _Sora's voice rang somewhere in his memory, which seemed far off. He held onto that nevertheless.

"Hang in there, Roxas. Who knows, you might get some news soon from the police," Axel said, while stifled laughter that Roxas had used the account _'__Roxas_whatever__' _exactly like how he sampled. He reached and pat Roxas's head.

Since Roxas had been thrown into this mess, he'd felt he could see things a little clearer and maybe even felt a little…_better._

Sure, Axel might have been a pain in the ass on their first meeting, probably under the Superior's watchful eyes. Now that they had a little time off, per se, Axel must have acted on his own account more. Without the Organization's attire, orders or missions and with him looking over his sickness, trying to cook for him, allowing him to look for Sora (minus the threat of the controller-to-his-brain part) and trying to make him feel better…Roxas realized he'd been too quick to anger and judged away, believing everything in this world was wicked.

'_Come__on,__Roxas.__You__gotta__try__and__think__positive.__' _Another memory of Sora surfaced in his mind.

"Axel."

"Yeah?" Axel drew back his hand, thinking that was a warning of some sort, although it didn't look like one.

Roxas looked away, yet his voice came off in most sincere tone. "Thank you."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Here are some changes and added lines in previous chapters:**

-From Xehanort being leader Org 13, it's changed to Diz.

-In the H.B's history that Axel told Roxas, Ansem was the good ruler, but was banished by Xemnas, his apprentice, and that was when the world started to rundown.

-Roxas is the head of school's Kendo club (in D.I), champion of Struggle Battle (in T.T.)

-After the Organization's stronghold was destroy, Zexion said Diz saw the betraying of the other members coming.

-At the end of chapter 5, Organization on bad sides is talking to Hojo that they'll get Roxas and Sora for him in exchange of Mako energy instead of means to travel to other worlds.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

_To be continued?_


	7. Note about upcoming KH Doujinshi

First of all, thank you for reading and reviews so far. Just drop by to note that I'm doing doujinshi for my 2 KH fanfiction, Saving/Squandered Opportunity. Guess I'll do better in doujinshi than in writing. I'd also like readers to voice which of the two I should go first. Please visit: http: /bonbonpich . /1747 . html *delete spaces*

Or you could find a link from my profile with LiveJournal under the name of 'bonbonpich' Other KH doujinshi/fanart are also there.

Thanks! Sorry this is not a new chapter, but from what I've seen, not too many people are reading this. So yeah, doujinshi could be better


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